
(kpigM - 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




MY FRIEND, THE TAI-TAI 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



BY JENNIE L. CODY 

SIX YEARS A MISSIONARY IN CHINA 



PHILADELPHIA 

THE GRIFFITH AND ROWLAND PRESS 

BOSTON CHICAGO ST. LOUIS 

TORONTO, CAN. 



J&1 



2.1 



Copyright 1915 by 
A. J. ROWLAND, Secretary 

Published November, 1915 



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DEC 22 1915 
©CI.A420020 

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FOREWORD 

I have read the manuscript of " Letters to Betsey " 
with a great deal of pleasure, since both the author and 
her adventures in China are well known to me. 

So many of the books which purport to tell personal 
experiences are " made in America," that it is a pleasure 
to come upon one which is simply an unvarnished state- 
ment of the real experiences of a real missionary. That 
is the fact in regard to " Letters to Betsey." 

Many workers in our missionary societies are un- 
familiar with just the sort of intimate details about 
every-day life that Miss Cody has given, in these letters 
of hers actually written to friends at home, which have 
received very little editing and are therefore all the 
more valuable as a true transcript from the life of an 
American girl in China. 

The book will surely be of value in creating a true 
understanding of the every-day life of the foreign mis- 
sionary in China. 

Helen B. Montgomery. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 
My friend, the Tai-Tai Frontispiece 

A rural laundry °4 " 

Mr. Shih and his family 88 * 

The women of the Bible school IoS ' 

A typical country home 

Mrs. Tfran 2oS " 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



San Francisco, October 5, 1908. 

My dearest Betsey : Here I am at stop number one 
on my long journey to the Celestial Kingdom. Did 
your ears burn at one o'clock last Tuesday night? I 
awoke then to realize that for a little while I was near 
you and home. How I longed to stretch out my arms 
across the country and give you a big hug. As the train 
pounded on and on in the darkness, carrying me farther 
and farther away from you, dear, I had no desire to 
sleep, but spent the time in praying for you and mother. 
Near morning I slept, and awoke at sunrise to have a 
beautiful view of Lake Erie before we left it behind. 

I am glad the summer is past and I am away. If I 
live to be ninety I am sure there will never be anything 
so hard for me again. But I never quite lost courage 
after that day in the Newton Church, when, in the 
quiet hush, God seemed to speak directly to my heart in 
the words : " Be not dismayed, . . I will strengthen 
thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee 
with the right hand of my righteousness." Neverthe- 

[I] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



less the summer has been hard; especially these last 
days of farewell to all my friends. I feel perfectly be- 
numbed, and my backbone is still so stiff I dare not 
bend for fear I'll break it. 

The long, unbroken trip across the continent has 
been the best thing that could come to me at such a 
time. How I have wished that I might write indelibly 
upon my mind these last impressions of the homeland ! 
We left the train on Saturday evening, hoping soon 
to be settled and ready for a good rest on Sunday. 
No such joy in store ! Instead, there was a repetition 
of the Cook party act of Chicago, only this time it was 
the ferry instead of a Parmelee bus. There are twenty 
in our party. The men thought it would be more 
expeditious to put our baggage all together to send 
up to the hotel. Hand-baggage for twenty people on 
their way to the Orient forms quite a mountain on a 
truck, and with a dozen females standing guard was 
evidently a spectacle for the natives, for three police- 
men and two deaconesses gathered around us, asking 
each other who and what we were. When they learned 
that we were merely a harmless body of missionaries 
they dispersed, and we wended our way to the ferry. 

Never a bit of a rest have we had to-day or yester- 
day. Meetings and speechmaking, a reception, fare- 
wells, and even shopping and sightseeing have filled 
the days and half the nights. We sail to-morrow at 
twelve. My heart gives a queer throb as I write the 
words. Oh, my dear, the time is so near and then 
there can be no turning back. It is time for the 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



sandman to come, so I'll waft you a last American kiss. 
Good night. 

On board S. S. Korea, Golden Gate, October 6. 
Golden Gate to golden opportunities ? Or is the name 
a misnomer. 

A Chinese lady sat in front of me on the car coming 
down to the boat. She was dressed in a black brocaded 
satin jacket fastened at the shoulder and under the 
right arm, a skirt with panel back and front and knife- 
plaiting at the sides. Her hair was brushed smooth 
as black satin in folds over her ears, and had large gold 
and jade ornaments in the coil at the back. She had 
numerous rings and a massive gold brooch set with 
dozens of pearls. So this is the manner of woman 
with whom I am to associate in the future. 

At last we are off. We have waved to the friends 
on the dock until we can no longer see them. Now 
I must take this down to send back by the pilot. I 
have called the Chinese foreigners for the last time 
in — how many years ? Henceforth it is I who will be 
the foreigner and the stranger. I am glad you cannot 
see my face as I write good-bye. Misty eyes sound 
well, but they are not becoming to your 

Jane. 



[3] ' 



II 



Yokohama, October 24. 

Dear Betsey : The Land of the Rising Sun is just as 
fascinating as the descriptions of it, and how good it is 
to have my feet on solid ground once more! Old 
Neptune treats me rather shabbily, and I have nearly 
decided never to go home on furlough. Aren't you 
sorry ? 

We have had a good trip, very few stormy days. 
Most of the ship's crew are Chinese. You never saw 
anything so funny as the row of Chinamen that lined 
up at the sounding of the alarm for fire-drill — so dirty 
and nondescript. Of course the table and cabin stew- 
ards with long, clean white shirties hanging straight 
to their ankles were very neat. 

Honolulu is beautiful beyond expression. The 
luxuriant verdure, the palms and bananas, the gorgeous 
coloring of the flowers, the bright sunshine, the won- 
drous painted sea, and the strange mixture of the 
Orient and Occident all together left a picture in my 
mind's eye never to be effaced. The divers entertained 
us by diving for money while we waited for quarantine 
inspection. They looked like Fiji islanders, and tried 
to attract attention by queer guttural cries. Flower- 
venders waited on the dock to bedeck us with garlands 
of flowers for a small remuneration. Only one day 

[4] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



there, but a day to be remembered for a lifetime. The 
crowning bit of beauty was the sight of the rosy banks 
of clouds veiling the tops of the mountains as we sailed 
away into the night. 

Yokohama is having a grand holiday in honor of 
the visit of Admiral Sperry's fleets. Sixteen American 
and sixteen Japanese battleships are anchored in the 
harbor, and the whole city is gay with bunting and 
thousands of flags and Japanese lanterns. The streets 
are full of little people in picturesque costumes, bobbing 
and courtesying in most ceremonious fashion. The 
sight of such politeness is most attractive, but I fear 
it would be out of place in a Brooklyn bridge crush. 

Miss Condit and Yamada San met us, and we went 
up to the Mary L. Colby school in jinrikishas. I felt 
like I was a lady in a book. Yamada San laughed at us 
for sitting up so stiff and straight. After that I leaned 
back and tried to look as if I were accustomed to riding 
in a rickshaw ; and, lo and behold, I am ! Already the 
novelty is past. 

The school is very pleasant, and the girls' dormitories 
as neat as you would expect them to be with no furni- 
ture in them. But how would you like to sit on your 
heels, and to sleep on a mat on the floor, with a block 
of wood for a pillow? 

Yesterday afternoon we were invited by the chaplain 
of the Virginia to go over the boat. It was very in- 
teresting; but I am glad I do not have a brother in the 
navy. The boys of Duncan Academy went with us. 
I wish you could have seen them when we got back 

[5] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



on shore, waving their caps, and shouting-, " Banzai ! 
Banzai ! Banzai ! " in honor of the chaplain as lustily 
as ever American boys hurrahed. It was dusk already, 
but Miss Wilson and I undertook the commission of 
buying something for the crowd to present the chaplain 
as a souvenir of the day. I forgot that I was tired 
and hungry in the fun of hurrying from shop to shop. 
There were crowds of people, all so polite and good- 
natured. The little shops form such a contrast to our 
stores. In some the floor was partly a raised plat- 
form, on which we sat while bargaining with the 
engagingly polite shopkeeper. And how the pretty 
things did tempt me to spend every cent — sen, I should 
say. Rickshaw rates on this gala night were too exor- 
bitant for poor missionaries, so we walked up' the hill 
to the bluff in the dark, and a dainty wee Japanese 
maiden served the dinner which she had kept waiting 
for us. 

Early this morning we parted from our friends at the 
school, and went by train to Tokyo for a day's sight- 
seeing. We went out to the famous old Shiba Temple. 
I was more interested in the city and the people than in 
the temple with its lacquered floor, its old carving9 
and paintings, and " idols of wood and stone " to which 
the heathen bow down. Poor little kiddies we saw 
clicketying-clacketying in wooden sandals along the 
streets, with baby sister or brother tied on their backs ! 
Must they too grow up to worship false gods ? This 
afternoon we went shopping in the largest bazaar in 
Tokyo, the most fascinating place you could imagine. 

[6] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



I had to hold my purse-strings tight, or have no money 
left to tip the stewards. 

I am now back on the Korea. Each of the thirty- 
two battleships is outlined with electric lights. 
Launches and motor-boats gaily festooned with strings 
of red and white lanterns dart hither and yon. Myriads 
of lanterns around the docks and along the Bund dance 
giddily in the breeze. From a little distance across the 
harbor a brilliant pyrotechnic display is doubled by the 
reflection in the water. Over all the steadfast moon, 
which a few hours ago looked down on you, now looks 
down on me. You can see for yourself this is no 
time for letter-writing, so I'll whisper the moon a mes- 
sage of love to carry to you and mother from 



Jane. 



[7] 



Ill 



Shanghai, November 2. 

My dear Betsey: Really in China at last. Lucky 
for me that we had the stops in Japan to prepare us for 
China. We had a pleasant day in Kobe and Osaka, 
visiting the missionaries. Osaka is an hour's ride by 
trolley from Kobe. It was raining that day, and the 
farmers were all out in straw raincoats and hats which 
made them look like miniature animated Fujiyamas. 
Nagasaki is a wonderfully picturesque place, with pre- 
cipitous mountains garlanded with green. The saddest 
thing in Japan is to see men drawing heavy drays, 
straining every muscle, until their faces express noth- 
ing but brute force, and they look like animals rather 
than men. 

They fell me the foreign concession of Shanghai, 
where we are staying, is not at all like a Chinese city. 
It looks much like one to me. Chinese shops and homes 
are interspersed with the European ones, and Chinese 
people throng the streets. The men wear long gowns, 
and many of the women wear trousers with no skirts 
over them. I have poked around into all sorts of 
strange places in search of furniture to take to Han- 
yang. I had an exciting adventure this afternoon ; got 
lost and couldn't make the rickshaw man understand 
where I wanted to go. I was in a Chinese section of the 

[8] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



city, and it seemed an age before I came out on a for- 
eign street and began to get my bearings. 

The modes of locomotion here are numerous. I 
have been in a trolley-car, an automobile, a rickshaw, 
and a wheelbarrow; perhaps I should say "on" the 
latter. It had a most captivating squeak. The tall 
sheik policemen with their big red, or yellow, or white 
turbans are most awe-inspiring. I assure you I do not 
intend to commit any misdemeanor and fall into their 
hands! I'd rather trust to the tender mercies of the 
Chinese policemen in the French concession. 

You should hear the people here talk pidgin-Eng- 
lish. It is the most ridiculous lingo imaginable. Here 
are some examples of this classic language : " Missy 
have got? " (Is miss at home?) " No, missy have not 
got." " Tell missy have got three piece lady? " (Tell 
miss there are three ladies to call on her. ) " Go topside 
catchee one piecie man." Isn't it " the limit " ? 

On board S. S. Kiang Hsin, November f. I am the 
only American on board; the captain and a Chinese 
man, who is traveling first cabin, are the only other 
persons who speak English. There are two French- 
men, a German army officer, and some Chinese. When 
I went out to tea this afternoon several Chinese ladies 
and two little girls were in the saloon. I was an object 
of great curiosity. One of the women whispered to her 
daughter, and the child immediately stooped and peered 
under the table at my big feet. These women and girls 
all have tiny " lily feet " in bright-colored embroidered 

[91 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



pointed slippers about four inches long. How can 
a mother cripple her child so ? 

Most of the houses along the river seem to be built 
of mud and reeds, thatched with reeds. They are 
grouped in villages with a few trees around them. The 
cities so far in coming up the Yangtze have not been 
impressive. We see many large fish-nets on frames, 
and near-by are tiny huts to shelter the man who tends 
the net. Except near the large cities I have seen no 
launches or motor-boats, nothing but Chinese junks, 
sailboats, and rowboats. It is very exciting to watch 
the passengers embarking and disembarking at the 
towns where there are no hulks. A large rowboat 
comes out with the passengers and their baggage. 
Such a conglomeration of things as they have ! Boxes 
and bundles and baskets, live chickens, perhaps even 
some fresh eggs tied up in a square of cotton. The 
poor women with bound feet are so awkward in trying 
to scramble up onto the boat. The river current is very 
strong, and when the water is rough it looks as if some- 
body or something would surely go overboard. There 
is a perfect babel of voices, the women jabbering and 
the men shouting until the rowboat is loosed and drops 
behind the steamer. 

Before leaving Shanghai I went into the native city. 
O Betsey, it is awful ! I cannot describe it to you. I 
thought I knew what I was coming to, but I didn't 
have the ghost of an idea how dark heathenism really 
is. One " prominent preacher," who traveled clear 
around the world to study world-wide missions, went 

[10] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



to the border of the foreign concession in Shanghai, 
looked over and saw the poor miserable creatures who 
thronged the street. Dirt and disease were too appar- 
ent. He decided it would be wrong for him to risk his 
precious life by venturing down the street ! 

Two days more and I shall be at the end of my long, 
long journey. How glad I am that I have a friend to 
welcome me. 

Lovingly, 

Jane. 



[n] 



IV 



Hanyang, November 18. 

You blessed Betsey : Your first letter came to-day. 
I felt like dancing a jig or singing a song of praise be- 
cause all is well with you dear ones. That " is " 
should be in the past tense, though. It is hard to 
realize that I am only now hearing that you were well 
five weeks ago. 

" To resoom and go on " from where I left off, 
the Kiang Hsin got into Hankow early Monday morn- 
ing. I was up and on deck before dawn, then waited 
until nearly ten before our people put in an appearance. 
I did not know whether they would come by boat or 
through Hankow; so I vibrated from one side of the 
boat to the other, watching for them. The sights were 
sufficiently novel to keep me interested. Swarms of 
coolies began unloading the cargo as soon as the boat 
anchored, carrying heavy loads on their backs, or on 
carrying-poles over their shoulders. At intervals one, 
two, or a whole group of sedan-chairs would come 
down to meet some of the passengers. The two 
Frenchmen and the Chinaman, who was a graduate 
of Columbia, went away with a tall young Chinaman in 
a handsome long garnet silk gown and bright blue satin 
trousers. 

Every time I saw two sedan-chairs coming together 

[12] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



I thought, " Perhaps that is Genevieve coming for me," 
and watched eagerly to see who would get out But at 
last she came by boat, Mr. Howell and Mr. Gage with 
her. I thought Genevieve would be so glad to see me 
she'd laugh ; instead, she cried ! 

She had some errands to do, so I went with her to 
the bank and the stores. There is a good-sized for- 
eign concession in Hankow. Although it is six hun- 
dred miles from the coast, it is a port city. The first 
foreigner we met as we walked down the Bund was 
Mr. Lewis. He did not know that I was to arrive 
that day. It did make the world seem small to land 
on the opposite side of the globe, and within five 
minutes unexpectedly meet some one from my home 
town. One is constantly tempted to use the bromidic, 
" How small the world is ! " 

When we returned to the steamer Mr. Gage had all 
my baggage, viz., five rattan chairs, one rocker, a 
high-poster black iron bed with springs, a table, two 
rolls matting, two trunks, two suit-cases, and bags and 
bundles galore (actually all these things came with me 
as baggage), loaded on a small sailboat. This was 
on the river side of the steamer. The next question 
was how were Genevieve and I to get down into that 
little boat, bobbing up and down with the waves, seven 
or eight feet below the lowest deck of the steamer. At 
last they placed a chair on the small end of the boat. 
A Chinaman held my hand from above till I made 
the grand leap, Mr. Gage caught my other hand as it 
came within reach, and I landed on the chair instead 

[I3l 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



of in the water as I had expected. Genevieve was as 
fortunate as I. 

The boatmen put up their sail and whistled for 
the wind. I wonder if Chinese boatmen did that hun- 
dreds of years before America was discovered. The 
whistle was ineffectual, and the current was so strong 
that the two men had to row hard to bring- us up the 
three miles in an hour and a half. They stand facing 
the prow to row. 

When I landed in Hankow I thought, " China isn't 
so bad after all ! " In the foreign concessions there is 
a fine stone embankment along the river's edge, and 
landing-places with broad flights of stone steps leading 
up to the street at every block. There are wide macad- 
amized streets and cement pavements, grass-plots and 
shade trees. The buildings are large and built in 
European style. If it had not been for the people I 
could easily have believed myself anywhere but in 
China. There are scores of beggars, miserable, repul- 
sive creatures with long matted hair, dressed in sack- 
cloth and dirt instead of sackcloth and ashes. Hun- 
dreds of coolies, whose appearance is little better, 
swarm the streets, doing work that at home is done 
by beasts of burden. From these up to the pompous 
mandarin and my lady in silk attire, every grade of 
society is represented. But in the concessions are also 
many Europeans. 

When we got away from the concession in our little 
sailboat I realized that for the first time I had left for- 
eign influences behind and was in real China. And, 

[14] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Betsey dear, China is as different from America as night 
is from day. Hanyang is China, pure and simple. There 
streets are narrow and dirty, and we catch glimpses 
of the interiors of the tiny huts where pigs and 
chickens and dogs share the " parlor " with the family. 
There is a stone embankment along the river here too, 
and stone steps at the landing-places. But such steps ! 
The blocks of stone have been displaced by the river 
when it rises in the summer until now there is only a 
rough pile of stones; some on which we must step are 
so wobbly that they tip and tilt under us. The ascent 
is more precarious because the steps are always muddy 
and slippery. There are no garbage men, and the land- 
ing-place (or mor-teo, as the Chinese call it) is the 
dump-heap for the whole neighborhood. All the water 
used in this big city is carried from the river. Coolies 
carry two big buckets on a pole over the shoulder, and 
the water slops over and keeps the mat-teos and the 
main street in a horribly muddy condition. I've seen 
mud at home, but nothing like this. It is so slimy and 
filthy that it makes me feel contaminated to walk 
through it. 

I wish I could show you Hanyang as I see it, but 
I know I cannot; for, after all- my reading about China, 
I had no conception of the squalor, disease, and 
wretchedness I was to meet on every hand here. Hun- 
dreds, if not thousands, of families in Hanyang live 
in mat-sheds. These are tiny huts made of unstable 
frames of bamboo poles with sheets of bamboo mat- 
ting thrown over them, situated down on the mud- 

[15] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



flats of the river or in any otherwise unoccupied space 
in the city. When I first saw them I thought they 
looked more like packing-cases than family residences. 
We would not consider them fit for a pig at home. 
It makes my heart ache to see the dirty little babies 
playing around in the mud in front of one of these 
" homes." By the way, did you know that the only 
word in Chinese for home is the character for pig 
under the character for roof? Home in China means 
a pig under a roof, but many people are too poor to 
own a pig. Happy the man who has a pig under his 
roof! 

The mission compound is very small, and surrounded 
by high brick walls, which make one feel very much 
shut in, but which are desirable to shut out many un- 
desirable things. The buildings are crowded close to- 
gether, but there are beautiful shade trees, of which 
some are still green and remain so all winter. The 
Ladies', House (it is thus our domicile is designated) 
is brick, and when we get it furnished, as we hope to 
before long, it will be a very pleasant place for you 
to come and visit me. Oh, how I wish you could ! 

All the people of the mission have been very cordial, 
and have done everything to make me feel that I am 
among friends. They are lovely, but Betsey, do you 
suppose I shall look so queer and old-fashioned in two 
or three years? Speaking of looks reminds me of my 
experience when buying a pith-hat in Shanghai. When 
I tried on a sun-helmet and saw myself in the mirror, 
my heart went down thump into the bottom of my 

[16] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



shoes. By no stretch of the imagination could the 
thing be considered becoming. If I must look like that 
all the rest of my life I could wish that I'd never said 
I would be a missionary. But I found a pith-sailor 
which reconciled me to my fate. 

One of the events of the year is entertaining the 
West China missionaries as they go through on their 
way up river. They are here now. To-day six of us 
went across the river to Wu Chang, and out beyond the 
city to the Red Pagoda for a picnic. Wherever we 
had to wait for a few moments a crowd of men and 
boys would gather around and stare at us. The rick- 
shaws of Hanyang and Wu Chang have little semblance 
to those of Japan. These are ready for the bone- 
yard. I never feared a wreck in the subway or " L " 
train, but to-day I lived in constant terror of a collision. 
You cannot imagine the old rattletraps, or the narrow, 
crowded streets, and the hairbreadth escapes we had. 
The city streets have very rough stone pavements. 
The coolies walked instead of running, and we did not 
wish them to go faster. If they had we wouldn't have 
had a breath left in our bodies. 

I (don't) wish you could have a picture of me as 
I looked on my way back from the pagoda — my hair 
flopping over one ear, pith-hat over the other, glasses 
ready to fly off! One moment I was on the seat, the 
next in midair, then, bump! onto the seat again. All 
the time I was trying frantically to keep my umbrella 
in position so not one ray from the sun should strike 
my poor old head ; my other hand clung desperately to 

[17] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the rickshaw, or was ready to warn off anything that 
came too near. Once I was sure I was going to run 
over a blind man we met, and leaned out to push him 
to one side, but we passed without touching even the 
hem of his garment. How I wish I could describe 
some of these garments to you. But, like most things 
in China, they are indescribable. 

We clambered up the irregular winding stone steps 
of the pagoda to the top, from which we had a wide 
view of the surrounding country. The hills are all 
covered with graves, thousands and thousands of them. 
There are few trees, but we found a shady spot where 
we ate our lunch. Several funny-looking children in 
wadded garments were interested spectators, and had 
a chance to sample American cooking after we had 
satisfied our appetites. On our way back we visited 
some of the missions, then crossed the river after sun- 
set, while the deep red glow in the sky cast a rosy 
light over the water. It was so quiet and beautiful 
after th^ noise and dirt of the city. 

Miss Thomas took me with her to a wedding-feast in 
the country last week. Of course our " valet " went 
too. (Genevieve calls the coolie who attends us as 
bodyguard our valet. ) He is a country lad, and such 
a comical piece. The country roads are little more than 
footpaths over the hills or between the paddy-fields. 
We met five blind beggars walking in a line, the blind 
leading the blind. 

It was a middle-class home, and this was the bride's 
feast to her friends, after which she was taken to 



[18] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the groom's home. The next day he would give a 
feast, and the marriage would be consummated. The 
very first thing I did was wrong. How in the world 
was I to know that I should not sit on the chair that 
was pointed out to me ? I should have insisted on Miss 
Thomas taking the highest seat at the feast, but not 
even knowing that it was a high seat I calmly sat down. 
Tea and Chinese sweets were served. I tried some dry, 
sweetened rice-flour, which was packed in cubes the 
size of a marshmallow. It looked good, but it was 
so dry and powdery it stuck in my throat. I was 
thankful for some hot tea. After that I indulged only 
in things that I was sure of — salted peanuts, dried 
melon seeds, and yellow rock-sugar. 

While we waited for the feast people came and went 
on various errands. The neighbors crowded in to< see 
the two foreigners. When the crowd was largest Mr. 
Uh, one of our church-members, arose and asked the 
people to be quiet for a while and listen to him Kiang 
taoli (explain the doctrine). Miss Thomas had some 
tracts printed on pink paper, which the people eagerly 
accepted. 

Finally the bride's sedan-chair, gay in red satin and 
gold embroidery, was brought in, and the middle- 
man appeared. The men grew tired of waiting, and 
shouted to the bride to hasten her preparations. After 
we had waited seemingly hours, we were summoned 
into the tiny bedroom to greet the bride. Most of the 
women were in there trying to help her dress. She 
was trembling, and her hands were cold, and she 

[19] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



exclaimed, " I'm so afraid I " Perhaps you would be 
too, if you were about to be wedded to a man whom you 
had never seen, and of whom you knew almost nothing. 
Her face was rouged clear up onto the eyelids, and she 
wore her betrothal rings and earrings. A sort of cloak 
of red satin was hurried on, the bridal veil, a square 
of red satin, was adjusted over her face so she could 
see nothing, and she was led blindly forth and placed 
in the sedan-chair. As she was seated Mr. Uh started 
a bridal hymn, which was sung by the Christians; then 
he offered prayer before the little bride was carried 
away to her new home. When she was gone a great 
weeping and wailing arose among the women relatives. 
Some of them continued it all the time we feasted. 

I disgraced myself by not being able to manipulate 
my chop-sticks properly. The women dipped their 
chop-sticks, the ones they were eating with, you under- 
stand, into the different dishes and piled things up 
on my bowl. I did not even know the word for 
" Enough " ! When the feast was ended, and every 
bowl but mine scraped clean, I was mortified beyond 
measure to find mine still heaping full. The only thing 
I had to encourage me was that it did not make me 
ill. One of the requirements of a good missionary is 
to be able to eat Chinese food. 

The language is fearful and wonderful. I sat down 
the first day in the Chinese guest-room, with my be- 
queued, begowned, begoggled teacher opposite me at 
the other side the table, and started practising the tones 
on the syllable ma. Of course the old Chinaman could 

[20] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



not see that it was any more ludicrous for me to be 
calling out Ma, ma, ma, ma, ma! than to say Fu, fu, fu, 
fu, fu, and he wouldn't let me leave ma until I stopped 
giggling- and gave the tones correctly. Nothing else 
is so bad as the aspirates, where he emits his breath 
explosively in my direction. Genevieve told me I 
would want a good wide study-table so my teacher 
would not be too near. " And now because and I'll 
tell you for why," as Mrs. Chase used to say — he eats 
garlic. 

The nights in China are stranger than the days. All 
night long watchmen go through the streets beating 
their gongs to warn evil-doers of their approach. 
There is no excuse for a thief being caught ; all he needs 
to do is to take to cover while the representative of 
the strong arm of the law passes by. Sometimes when 
there is illness or a death in a home near-by we hear 
the Buddhist or Taoist priests, who have been called 
in, beating gongs, clashing cymbals, setting off fire- 
crackers, and shouting incantations to drive away the 
evil spirits. Dogs bark continuously, and two cats 
fighting on the compound walls sing the same tune 
that cats on the back-yard fence at home indulge in, 
only Chinese cats seem to be more fond of midnight 
concerts. Our house is at the back of the compound, 
so we do not hear the noises from the street and the 
surrounding Chinese homes as much as other people 
do, but even here we are sometimes wakened by a 
family quarrel. So, you see, we have diversions by 
night as well as by day. 

[21] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



What a volume I have written ! If I do not reform 
you will learn to dread my letters. And there is still so 
much to tell. I haven't mentioned the good meetings 
at the church. It is splendid to hear the native pastor 
preach, even though I do not understand a word he 
says. 

Already I have changed my name, and will sign 
myself, 

Yours unworthily, 

Keo Jen-Li. 



[22] 



Hanyang, December 2. 

Dear Betsey : The American mail came to-day and 
brought me an armful; so this is a red-letter day for 
me. ( No pun intended. ) 

I have been thinking of the words of Phillips Brooks : 
" Our life is like the life of a tree, again and again 
stripped of every sign of life that it has put forth ; and 
yet which still has gathered all those apparent fail- 
ures into the success of one long continuous growth." 
When I left home I did feel that my life was stripped 
pretty bare. But already the little green sprouts are 
beginning to put forth, and life seems to hold greater 
possibilities than ever before. I was not mistaken in 
thinking that the need for Christian workers is greater 
in China than in America. I constantly wish that I 
might take my friends with me through the streets of 
the city and show them. If only people could see the 
need, certainly they would want to do a hundred times 
what they are doing to bring the message of salvation 
to these wretched people. 

Last Sunday Mrs. Howell came in and invited us to 
go with them to the meeting at the Chiao Keo chapel. 
It was a beautiful day. We walked outside the city 
wall and around Dragon Hill, rowed across Moon 
Lake, took another walk through the suburbs of Han- 

[23] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



yang, crossed the Han River, and were soon at our 
destination. It was a small native chapel. About sixty 
people attended. You know, the men and women do 
not sit together. One corner was reserved for the 
women, a tiny alcove six or seven feet square. About 
twenty women and children were crowded in there. 
Certainly that was getting near to the people ! We sat 
on benches built like a carpenter's sawhorse, only a 
trifle wider. Both Mr. Howell and the native evan- 
gelist spoke, but, of course, I could not understand 
a word they said. Meanwhile the evangelist's wife 
played the part of hostess, finding places for the 
women who came late, and vainly attempting to keep 
the children quiet. 

Are singers at home criticized for flatting their high 
notes ? I wish the critics could hear the singing here ! 
At the central church we have an organ and a leader, 
and the music is fairly good for China. (I'll admit 
I did not know it until I was told.) At Chiao Keo 
there Was no organ, and the people have not the faintest 
idea of time or tune; but we were determined to have 
good music for once. The two< or three women who 
could read kept with us, and we four stuck bravely to- 
gether, while the men won out by a line or two. 

On our way we passed a temple where there lives 
a nun who, to gain merit, has chopped off her own 
right hand, embalmed it, and now wears it hanging 
around her neck as a charm. We met a woman with 
a cyst tumor as large as her head on the side of her 
face. A little later we met a pig afflicted in identically 

[24 I 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the same manner in identically the same place on its 
face. In walking through the streets we had to stand 
to one side to let a line of several water-buffaloes pass 
by. They are large animals with long, flat horns, 
which extended almost the width of the street. 

Another diversion was watching a quarrel between 
a passenger in a boat and the boatman. They raged 
and stormed at each other, stamping their feet, and 
looking ready to tear each other's hair out. The boat- 
man grabbed up his long-handled mop (as good a 
weapon as a broomstick), and it looked as if he were 
going to have the best of the fight, but some other 
boatmen interfered, and with a look of murderous hate 
on his face the passenger departed. No one can say the 
Chinese have not expressive faces. They can look as 
pleasant or as disagreeable as any one I have ever 
seen. They are just plain folks like ourselves, and 
human nature is as much in evidence in China as in 
America. Don't tell anybody, for people might not 
feel flattered, but I am constantly being reminded by 
the Chinese of friends at home. In spite of flat noses 
and slant eyes they have the same types of faces. By 
the way, people's ideas of beauty differ. We may not 
admire the Chinese; neither do they admire us. One 
of the missionaries on a Chinese boat recently noticed 
two men regarding her most attentively. Finally one 
asked the other, " Why are foreign women so much 
uglier than our women ? " After long contemplation 
the other replied, " I think it must be their noses." 

The nurses from the hospital called this afternoon. 

[25] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



It makes me feel so stupid not to be able to talk with 
them. They were neatly dressed in black and looked 
every inch the lady, even if they did wear trousers in- 
stead of skirts. Mrs. Liu, the matron and head facto- 
tum at the hospital, is a very capable woman. Yet 
only three years ago she was living down on the river- 
flats in a mat-shed, such as I have described to you. 
She could neither read nor write a word. Her hus- 
band was an opium fiend, and they were so poor that 
they sold their little daughter for money to buy opium. 
I can imagine I see their little son, Kuan-Teh, go- 
ing about the streets and fields with a basket on his 
arm and a pair of tongs made of two sticks, engaged 
in the frequent occupation of the children from these 
wretched hovels, gathering up all sorts of refuse. 
Nothing seems too poor for them to make use of. 
Filthy old rags go to the rag-shops. The dried outer 
leaves of the coarse Chinese cabbage, or any scrap of 
food thrown out in the garbage of the more well-to-do 
people" is picked up from the filth of the streets or from 
the dump-heaps along the river-banks. What a para- 
dise a well-filled American garbage-can would be to 
some of these children! Coarse grass and weeds are 
gathered from among the graves on the hillside and 
twisted into ropes, which are cut into short lengths for 
fuel. Other weeds and grasses are cooked as vege-^ 
tables. Kuan-Teh was growing up in the same igno- 
rance and superstition that is the lot of multitudes of 
children in China. But the father died. Doctor Lessey 
came. She could not secure an educated woman to 



[26] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



help in the hospital, for nursing was considered menial 
work. She became acquainted with Mrs. Liu, and 
beneath her ignorance she saw latent possibilities. 
While studying the language she taught Mrs, Liu, and 
now this woman from the depths is able to minister 
not only to the sick bodies of the patients in the hos- 
pital, but to their sin-sick souls as well. She goes with 
Doctor Lessey into wealthy and official homes, and 
is received with respect. The prejudice against the 
menial work of nursing is breaking down, and people 
are beginning to' look upon it as a profession. Doctor 
Lessey is helping Mrs. Liu to keep Kuan-Teh in school, 
and he has grown to be a splendid boy. 

The two other nurses, Ma Ta-Ku and Pen Ta-Ku, 
both young girls, have equally interesting stories. 
Many of the people we see have thrilling life-stories. 
I long for the time when I can talk with them. But, oh, 
this dreadful language! 

Christmas is coming, and even in China the word 
casts a magic spell over the mind. May it be a joyous 
one to all you dear ones, but in the midst of all the 
jollity spare a few thoughts for Tane 

P. S. In glancing over this I happened to think of 
what your idea of a chapel with an " alcove " would be. 
You are entirely mistaken. The Chiao Keo chapel 
does not have plastered walls, a board floor, and three 
glass windows on each side. It is dark and dingy and 
crude in the extreme. The only bits of brightness are 
the Scripture banners and pictures on the walls. 

c [27] 



VI 



Hanyang, December 16. 

My dear Betsey: You say people ask if I like it 
here. How could any one " like it " in a city where 
the only clean, attractive spots which I know are 
within the walls of the three mission compounds? 
(We have two, and the English Wesleyans have a 
large girls' school and a church at the west gate, 
about a mile from here. ) 

If we step outside the compound gate we must pass 
through the native streets. The sights and smells are 
truly sickening. I cannot describe it on paper. We 
see more filth, misery, poverty, and disease in a half- 
hour's walk in Hanyang than I have seen in all my 
life in America ; and as you know, I am well acquainted 
with the slums of several of our largest cities. Talk 
of reeking alleys ! Here the whole city reeks, and the 
streets are all alleys. Some of the main streets are 
twelve or fourteen feet wide, but they are evidently 
public property in the sense that any individual may use 
them as he sees fit. Consequently, all the space except 
four or five feet through the middle of the street is 
filled with stalls, or with the personal property of 
the householders or shopkeepers. Open-air restaurants 
are popular even in winter. The tables are set out 
in the streets, also the smoking stoves on which the 

[28] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Chinese chef in dirty jacket prepares all sorts of 
unappetizing food. The smell is all I want. No! I 
mean I do not want even the smell. 

Carpenters pile their logs in the street, where two 
,men leisurely saw them into boards by means of a 
small hand-saw. Furniture-makers paint or varnish 
their tables and chairs and pile them out in the street 
to dry. The merchant of chinaware, with a few dozen 
tea- or rice-bowls, calmly spreads them out in the street 
and the pedestrian must step around them. The spec- 
tacle merchant does likewise with his clumsy steel- 
rimmed spectacles ; so does the fishman with his baskets 
of fish, and the venders of a dozen other commodities 
fall in line. The barber puts down his stool in the 
street, and is ready for business. Umbrella-makers 
work there with their unfinished paper umbrellas spread 
out all around. Meat and every other sort of food is 
displayed for sale in open exposure to the trillions of 
microbes which throng the air. Women do their wash- 
ing and hang the clothes in the street to dry. Itinerant 
merchants and keepers of portable restaurants go 
through the streets hawking their wares ; coolies chant 
a monotonous work-song as they carry their heavy 
burdens; and sedan-chair bearers keep up a constant 
shouting for people to clear the streets. Chickens, 
pigs, and mangy dogs are much in evidence. 

The condition of the people fits Isaiah's description 
of Israel, : " Full of wounds, and bruises, and putrefying 
sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up." 
The beggars are so frightfully dirty, and even in winter 

[29] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



are half-naked, or clad in filthy tatters, picturesquely 
described as " zoological hanging gardens." They al- 
ways display their sores and deformities to win sym- 
pathy when asking alms. Dreadful eye, skin, and scalp 
diseases are very prevalent. Instead of being bound up, 
the scabs and open sores are exposed to sight and to 
infection, which greatly increases the trouble. I am 
often nauseated by seeing men and boys with the entire 
scalp one mass of scabs and running sores; and it is 
not uncommon to see people with the nose, or the upper 
or under lip, partly, or even entirely, eaten away by 
loathsome diseases. 

The sights alone are enough to sicken and distress. 
The smells are disgusting. Open sewers in the city 
and stagnant pools outside taint the purity of the air. 
There is no water system. Men go through the city 
with large, uncovered buckets gathering up the night- 
soil to be carried out into the country for use as a 
fertilizer. It is not particularly pleasant to meet these 
buckets, or to pass through a street where are half a 
dozen of them and the women all out in front of the 
houses scrubbing out the family receptacle. At inter- 
vals are partially enclosed public privies with small pre- 
tense at privacy, which add their vile odors to the gen- 
eral reekiness. It makes a person wish the olfactory 
nerve were a minus quantity. 

But the joke of it is, that in spite of the offensive 
smells we must endure, the fastidious Chinaman will 
sometimes turn the tables on us by holding his nose 
when he sees a foreigner coming down the street, 

[30] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



because, forsooth, the Chinaman thinks the foreigner 
has a disagreeable odor. Now what do you think of 
that? 

Every time we leave the compound we must en- 
counter these sights and smells, for there is a five- 
minute walk before we can get out into' the open. 
Part of the distance is along Primrose Lane, so dubbed 
in tribute to the perfume from the open sewer which 
oozes beneath the city wall at this point. Then if we 
walk over the hill to gather late wildflowers in De- 
cember, we must pass by a number of uncovered 
coffins; some have stood there many months, waiting 
for an auspicious day for burial. One day we saw 
a tiny rough-board coffin which had been torn open, 
and the little corpse eaten by pigs or dogs. Another 
day this pleasant walk among the graves was spoiled 
by the doleful wailing of a widow over the grave 
of her husband. Why do we walk among the graves? 
Because there is no other place within a mile if we wish 
to get away from the native streets. 

If we want to see any of our own kind, or do busi- 
ness we must go in a small rowboat or sailboat, climb- 
ing up and down the rickety stone steps of the ma-teos 
with the likelihood of slipping into the mud if we are 
not very careful of our footing. I saw a Chinaman 
slip into a mud-bank one day. He went in half-way 
to his knees. People stood around and laughed instead 
of helping him out. They did the same when Mrs. 
Gage started straight through to America by the same 
direct route the other day. It took the united efforts 

[3i] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



of Genevieve and the servant to pull her back, and 
neither Genevieve's nor Mrs. Gage's skirts will ever 
recover from the effects of the mud-bath. When it is 
rainy or stormy we must stay at home or paddle 
through the mud. Sedan-chairs are too expensive to 
use unnecessarily, and Hanyang rickshaws are worse, 
far worse than mud. 

Add to these things and a hundred others which I 
cannot put on paper the fact that wherever we go we 
are the gazing-stock of all the people along the way. 
Children hurl such complimentary epithets as " for- 
eign dog " and " old hag " or even " foreign devil " 
after us. Women standing in the doorways call others 
to come quickly and see the odd-looking foreigners. 
In tribute to Madam Grundy, if not for safety from 
molestations by beggars, we must be accompanied by 
a servant. At first I thought I never could become 
accustomed to having a Chinese boy trailing along be- 
hind me every time I stepped outside the gate. I can- 
not begin to enumerate all the disagreeables. If you 
should come to Hanyang you would exclaim with the 
Queen of Sheba, " The half has never been told," only 
your wonder would be at undesirable things. 

Nevertheless, it is worth living in China to see the 
transformation which Christianity has wrought in 
some lives. With the missionary motive strong in my 
heart I can say, " Better fifty years of Cathay than a 
cycle of Europe" — or any other country. Do not 
think there are no pleasures in China. It is per- 
fectly delightful to step inside the compound gate after 

[32] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



an outing, and hear the squeaky cracked voice of the 
old gatekeeper saying, " Ai-ahl Siao-tsieh-men-huei- 
liaol (Ah ! the misses have returned)." I would rather 
be here than anywhere else in the whole wide world. 

Yours happily, 

Jane. 



Issl 



VII 



Hanyang, January i, 1909. 

My very dear Betsey: The day for good reso- 
lutions has come, and I shall celebrate by writing to 
thank you for the lovely gifts and the letter you sent 
to help make my first Christmas in China a happy one. 
We have to make it a very merry holiday here, so 
that there shall be no time for sadness. Ten thousand 
miles seems a greater distance at Christmas than at 
any other time of the year. 

The day before Christmas Genevieve and I went for 
a walk on the hill under the old city wall. If one could 
only forget the surrounding graves and uncovered cof- 
fins it would be a pleasant walk after leaving the city 
streets. The wall rises twenty feet above the top of the 
hill. Across the pond in the other direction the Chinese 
houses with their ornamental tile roofs are quite en- 
chantingly picturesque. Disenchantment comes on a 
nearer view. The hill is almost bare, but we found 
some red berries with which to decorate our house. 
We went in to see Mrs. Lane, and found the children 
wild with glee over Christmas secrets. 

We decorated the house with the berries and the 
beautiful foliage of the heavenly bamboo, and some 
Christmas bells which I brought from home. It was 
very festive. We gave a Christmas-eve party. Be- 

[34] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



fore retiring we hung up our stockings. If Santa 
did not fill them, some one else did, and we three old 
maids began Christmas Day in the orthodox way by 
opening our stockings in front of a grate fire. We had 
a Christmas tree at Doctor Lane's in the afternoon, 
and went to the Howells' for the evening. It was 
hard to realize that we were in a land where millions 
of people have never heard of Christmas or the Babe 
of Bethlehem. 

One day a countrywoman called, who said she came 
to Hankow and Hanyang to see the world. She told 
of the wonderful high buildings in Hankow. None 
are more than four stories high. She wanted to see 
the inside of one of the big buildings, and she pro- 
ceeded to see, going up-stairs and all through the house, 
constantly exclaiming about how clean it was, and what 
a wonderful world it is. She thought a great many 
people must live here — could scarcely believe it when 
told there are only three. Think of one whole large 
bedroom for one person! Such luxury is almost in- 
credible. 

There has been such distress from poverty and 
famine this year that we three decided to give a feast 
to the women of the church. Do you know how a 
Chinese feast is served? We have square tables and 
eight sit at a table. There is no cloth or silver, just 
chop-sticks and a sort of china spoon at each plate. 
Large bowls of food are placed in the middle of the 
table. Each guest is given a bowl of rice, and all dip 
their chop-sticks into the large bowls and help them- 

[35] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



selves and one another. Microbes are an unknown 
quantity, and it is quite proper to take something from 
your own bowl and give it to your neighbor. An old 
woman next me disposed of her food in the most 
marvelously short time. It would have taken away 
your appetite to see the tables with gravy spilled all 
over them. The feast was served in the school dining- 
room. Fortunately the floor is cement, for all the 
bones and " leavings " were thrown under the table 
in true Oriental fashion. After the feast we sang 
hymns. Notice I say " we sang," and it wasn't Eng- 
lish, either. Perhaps I didn't know half the characters, 
but I am making progress. 

Nearly another month before I can expect a letter 
telling me about your Christmas. Do you suppose 
I shall ever become accustomed to waiting so long for 
my letters? 

Ever your loving 

Jane. 



[36] 



VIII 



Hanyang, February 10. 

Beloved Betsey : It is a dull, gray day, not raining 
or freezing, but damp and chilly enough to be both. 
How can it be so cold when the thermometer is above 
freezing ? I am sure the mercury is lying, but there is 
no ice to prove that I am right. If we go out and 
exercise for a while we come in warm and wondering 
why we thought it cold, but after a half-hour the chills 
are creeping up my spine again. I find the cold much 
more trying here than at home. 

We had great excitement here this morning. At six 
o'clock the boy knocked on our door, and called to 
tell us that a thief had been in the house. We hurried 
on some clothes and went out. San Seh was waiting 
with the lantern, for it was still pitch-dark. We went 
down to' investigate, and found that twenty or thirty 
dollars' worth of things had been stolen. We found 
where the thief had a ladder and climbed over the 
compound wall, and are relieved that there is nothing 
to implicate the servants in any way. 

I have never told you much about the servants, have 
I? Some people think missionaries are extravagant 
because we live in large houses and keep servants, 
whereas both are necessities. The hot summers here 
would be unendurable in small low-ceilinged rooms 

[ 37] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



such as many houses at home have. It is difficult to 
keep well in this climate under the most favorable con- 
dition we can achieve. A teacher or business woman 
in America usually boards. Here there is no place to 
board ; we must keep house. But instead of taking the 
time which belongs to missionary work for cooking 
and dishwashing, we hire servants to do that, and we 
give all our energies to the work for which we came 
here. We must have three servants to do the work 
which one would do at home, but even so it is no great 
extravagance, for we pay the three only nine dollars 
a month, and they eat their own rice. Doubtless you 
are bright enough to know that means that they board 
themselves. 

Hu Si-fu, our cook, is the most impish specimen of 
humanity I ever saw. His queue is all kinks and quirks, 
and so is his face. When he tells how much the " lice " 
for dinner cost it is hard for me not to' laugh as if 
he'd made a joke. I am sure he is a rascal, but he 
has not done anything very bad since he came to us. 
Wong San Teh is the house boy. His name means 
Three Virtues, but we think all the virtues in the cata- 
logue are insufficient to enumerate his. He is so quiet 
about the house, and keeps things in beautiful order. 
He is almost incredibly neat and clean for a China- 
man. The coolie is so slow and stupid we call him 
Dunce Si-fu. This morning he did not sweep, my room 
clean. I called him in to do it over again. His shoes 
were dirty, and he tracked in much more dirt than 
he took out. It was exasperating! My vocabulary 

[38] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



was not equal to the demands of the occasion, and- 1 
let him go, then meekly got down and wiped up his 
tracks with my duster. 

We take turns at the housekeeping, each taking it 
for a month at a time. I am having my first turn, and 
have had many amusing experiences. There has been 
much loud talk in the servants' quarters lately. To- 
night I told the cook that we don't wish to hear big 
voices. He smiled sweetly, and confidentially informed 
me that the coolie has a very big voice; perhaps it 
would be well for the miss to speak to the coolie about 
it. If you could hear the cook's voice as he issues his 
orders, you would know why this is enough to> keep 
me good-natured for the rest of the evening. One day 
I saw him mixing a cake in the wash-basin in which I 
had previously seen the coolie washing his feet. When 
I mentioned this little matter to the cook and told him 
we did not consider it cleanly, he was horrified. He 
would never do such a thing. One day a perfectly 
good wild duck skeleton with a leg and two> wings 
disappeared. I told the cook to put it on for supper, 
knowing full well that he could not produce it. He 
looked blank for a moment, then said, <c Keo-ih (All 
right)." When we went down to supper there was 
minced-up meat in a ring of mashed potatoes. The 
proof of the pudding was in the eating. Not one scrap 
of wild duck did we taste. Cook received a curtain- 
lecture on " left-overs." It seems impossible to teach 
the Chinese to distinguish between cloths. The floor- 
cloth and the dish-cloth become hopelessly mixed in 

[39 3 






LETTERS TO BETSEY 



their uses. The duster is used to dry the dishes, or the 
dish-towel to dust the rooms. One day after Gene- 
vieve had delivered a lecture to the cook on wearing 
a cap in the kitchen so we wouldn't find so many, 
long black hairs in our food, she went out and found 
him with a dish-towel tied around his head. He looked 
very complacent, and seemed to expect a word of com- 
mendation. We have wonderful dreams of the time 
when we shall have well-trained servants. 

It is Chinese New Year, and all China is having a 
holiday. The shops are all closed, and the houses are 
decorated with strips of red paper, on which are char- 
acters which mean long life, happiness, etc., and with 
new door-gods, as they call the hideous pictures which 
they put up to frighten away the evil spirits. People 
are all dressed in their best, and it is so quiet it seems 
like an old-fashioned Sunday at home. 

This sure am a drefful language. There are two 
hundred and fourteen characters in the alphabet, and 
the phonetics besides. Four or five thousand charac- 
ters are in common use. Dozens of them are pro- 
nounced exactly alike ; as there are only five tones, that 
means there are many words which it is absolutely im- 
possible to distinguish between so far as sound is con- 
cerned. For instance, different characters which are 
pronounced shi in the same tone mean to bite, corpse, 
divine, bestow, act, connect, poetry, and so on ad 
infinitum. When I hear the word shi, how am I to 
know which of the possible one hundred and fifty 
words is meant ? There seem to be no general terms. 

[40] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



I learned the word for cut, and thought I could use it 
on all occasions, but it wouldn't work. To chop and 
to slice are entirely different processes., and you can't 
cut with scissors using the same word you use to cut 
with a knife. There are fourteen words for cut in 
Chinese, and I think it will be fourteen years before 
I shall be able to use each in its proper place. The 
family relations are as difficult to designate. There 
is no word for uncle as we use it. We must learn four 
words for father's older brother, father's younger 
brother, mother's older brother, and mother's younger 
brother. The same way for the aunts and the cousins, 
and the mother's father and the father's father, and 
the older brother's wife and the younger brother's wife, 
till I am thankful I have no relatives in China. It's bad 
enough to be always calling other people's relatives by 
the wrong titles ! 

Not only that, but every trade and occupation carries 
its distinctive title with it. In America we can call any 
man from the president down to the lowest hobo 
Mister, and every woman is either Mrs. or Miss. Not 
so here. How am I ever going to learn the multitudi- 
nous titles necessary to express the age and rank and 
honorable or dishonorable position of all the people 
I meet? 

Here is what we must learn about every character : 
its tone, pronunciation, Romanization, meanings; if a 
noun, its numerary adjunct; and if it begins with cer- 
tain letters, whether it is aspirate or non-aspirate. I 
am learning to write, and some of the characters have 

[41] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



twenty-five strokes, every one of which -must be taken 
in its proper order. 

Perhaps it does not sound very difficult, but if you 
will study Chinese for one month you will ever after 
pity the missionaries who have to learn it. When I am 
introduced to the native Christians they always say 
they hope the heavenly Father will help me to get the 
language quickly. 

I am thankful every day that I am here, and shall 
be so glad when I can get into the real work. 

.With love, 

Jane. 



1 42 1 



IX 



Hanyang, February 28. 

Beloved Betsey : Last week was the opening of the 
Girls' Boarding School. It was the most interesting 
social function I ever attended. It rained all that day, 
but seventy of the invited guests attended. Some were 
ladies from the highest official families of the city, 
and they came in their silks and satins and furs and 
jewels. Their bows were as ceremonious as if they 
were being presented at court, and their response to 
our reception extravagantly polite. We served foreign 
refreshments. Instead of eating things, the ladies 
carefully tied them up in their handkerchiefs to take 
home. 

I am teaching English to one of the schoolgirls and 
two Tai-Tais (ladies). It is helpful to my language 
study, for what they learn in English I learn in Chinese. 
Wong Tai-Tai is the daintiest little morsel of human- 
ity. I have never seen her when she was not ex- 
quisitely dressed, and with exactly the proper amount 
of rouge on her cheeks, and a spot of carmine on her 
lower lip. Her hair is always dressed elaborately, 
smooth, and shiny as black satin. She seems proud 
of the fact that she combs it herself, spends two hours 
on it every morning. She wishes to learn English to 
please her husband, who is an official, and speaks both 

D [43] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



English and French very well. He called on us to 
arrange for her lessons. Shen Tai-Tai is also from 
an official family. She is a Christian, and such a fine- 
appearing woman. Her little daughter Chu-Li is my 
other pupil. She is the dearest child. 

We enjoy having the girls on the compound. I 
went over last Friday evening to play with them; 
played " Going to Jerusalem " and other games. The 
girls become so excited, and enter into the fun so 
heartily. One evening Mrs. Lane gave a stereopticon 
talk, which was a wonderful event to them. Miss Len, 
the teacher who boards at the school, is a very attract- 
ive girl. She speaks English, so I can talk with her 
more than any one else. The girls keep the " quiet 
hour," the older ones in their own rooms. Miss Len 
gathers the little ones around her, reads, and explains 
the Bible to them, and prays with them. 

Mrs. Wan, the head teacher, is Genevieve's main de- 
pendence in the school. She is the widow of a man- 
darin," and seems very refined. She was here for tea 
this afternoon. I can talk a little with her now, and 
it isn't so embarrassing as it was when I first came, 
and all we could do was to* sit and gaze at each other 
and smile. Her little four-year-old son was with her. 
He is a bright little chap, and is already " studying 
books " with a tutor. He placed the palms of his hands 
flat together, bowed low, and said " Good morning " 
to* me in English. 

The other day we went down the street to buy some 
furniture for the school. The shops have open fronts, 

[44] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



and it made me feel like a side-show at the circus the 
way people gathered around and stared at us. In a few 
minutes there were thirty-eight interested spectators, 
mostly men and boys. The shopkeeper drove them 
off, but more soon came. The family lived in the 
back rooms. The women soon discovered there was 
some excitement out front, and they came to see the 
circus. They exclaimed at the whiteness of our skin, 
and carefully examined our clothes for pointers on the 
latest (?) American styles and fabrics. On the way 
we passed two idol-shops, where hideous idols were 
displayed for sale, also shops where they sell paper 
furniture and money to burn for the dead. Idolatry 
is not yet a thing of the past in the changing China of 
which America hears. 

Some of the school windows overlook the native 
street. One evening Genevieve was at one of these 
windows, and heard singing. She looked down, and 
through the cracks between the mats she could see into 
one of the wretched hovels where a roomful of people 
were holding a prayer-meeting. And this almost under 
the eaves of the church where we have two> prayer- 
meetings every week. It is the home of one of our 
church-members. 

Last Friday we were invited to the home of the 
Dao-Tai, one of the highest officials in the city. We 
put on our best bibs and tuckers, and went in state, 
in sedan-chairs, with three coolies to carry each of the 
five chairs, and a servant to carry our cards. The only 
other guests were two 1 dainty little Japanese ladies. 

[451 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Our chairs were carried into the inner court. Then 
the hostess appeared, and invited us to enter. You 
should have seen us making our best bows. The house 
was semiforeign, with glass windows, and board floors. 
In the guest-room they had foreign tables and up- 
holstered chairs arranged Chinese fashion; that is, 
with the chairs ranged stiffly along the walls, and a 
small table between every two chairs on which to 
serve the inevitable cup of tea. Neither of the Japanese 
ladies could speak English, and only one understood 
Chinese. It could not but be rather stiff when half the 
people there couldn't understand half what the other 
half were trying to say. After greetings and a cup of 
tea, we were taken to the dining-room for the feast. 
It was served semiforeign style, with plates instead of 
bowls, unhemmed linen cloth and napkins, but no 
knives, forks, or spoons. The food was delicious, and 
so abundant that we could do no more than taste 
the last few courses. Four men served, and part of the 
time the doorway was crowded with servants watching 
us eat. 

After the meal the Dao-Tai, a bluff, hearty China- 
man, came in and talked a few moments, and invited 
us to walk in the garden. He did not accompany us. 
The Tai-Tai went; she was the only one of his three 
wives who -appeared. We strolled through the garden 
with its queer rockeries and artificial pond, fed the 
monkey, drank tea in the summer-house, then returned 
to the house, where tea was served again before 
we took leave. We hope the Tai-Tai 's courtesy is an 

[46] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



indication that she is interested in Christianity. The 
upper-class women live such secluded lives it is dif- 
ficult to become acquainted with them. We shall 
invite her to a feast here soon. 

Affectionately, 

Jane. 



[47] 



April 9. 
Betsey Dear : 

Lo, the winter is past, 

The rain is over and gone; 

The flowers appear on the earth, 

The time of the singing of birds is come. 

The vines are in blossom, 

They give forth their fragrance. 

So do the violets, the sun shines, the grass is growing 
green, and a stray bat is likely to fly into my room at 
night. " Summer is coming and springtime is here." 
Yet I am constantly dressed twice as warmly as I ever 
dressed for coldest winter weather at home, and I have 
not been tempted to discard any of my winter clothing 
yet. 

Mr. Gage took me over to visit one of the boys' day- 
schools across the street one day. The room is poorly 
lighted, has mud floor, rough, dingy, board walls, and 
the ceiling is covered with blue and white bamboo mat- 
ting. The tables are high, and four boys sit at one 
table ; the benches are high and narrow with no back- 
rest, and many with no foot-rest. Imagine the boys 
sitting perched on them, with feet swinging, and bodies 
swaying back and forth while " they fairly scream and 
shout at top of lungs their lessons out." Chinese 
dress is still interestingly unique to me; and these boys 

[48] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



with their queues at all lengths — some of the younger 
ones with grotesque wisps of hair braided and stand- 
ing straight out from the crowns of their heads, or 
with the center of the pate shaved, and the older boys 
with heavy braids hanging down the back and with 
faces of such various types, some dull and stupid, 
others so bright and intelligent, make me realize what 
an opportunity it is to try to win these " little ones " 
for the Saviour. 

When a visitor enters, the pupils all rise and remain 
standing until given permission to be seated. They 
were having a writing lesson. A large copy is slipped 
beneath the thin paper of the copy-book, and the pupil 
traces it. The Chinese pen is a fine tapering hair 
brush, not unlike our paint-brushes. Next the boys 
were called up for an arithmetic lesson. I began to 
fear I was going to miss what I went for; but Mr. 
Gage asked the master to let us hear them recite the 
classics. Soon the fun waxed fast and furious. Thirty 
boys swinging back and forth, each studying a dif- 
ferent lesson aloud make a vast deal of noise, even 
when they have been taught that the foreign parson 
wishes them to study quietly. The master called 
them one at a time to recite, " back the book " as 
they say; and that is literally what they did, turned 
their backs on the book and the teacher while swing- 
ing their bodies like a pendulum, first one foot, then 
the other in the air, and recited verbatim what they 
had memorized. The classics are in Wen-li, the book 
language, which is entirely different from the common 

[49] 



LETTERS TO BET5EY 



talk. It is unintelligible to the children until it is 
carefully explained to them. In assigning the lessons 
the master would first read the lines in a high-toned 
singsong fashion, then explain every phrase. 

Until I came here I did not know what a vitally 
important part of missionary work the educational 
work is. Few people make earnest Christians unless 
they can read God's word for themselves; yet in this 
land there are millions of people who have not sufficient 
education to read the simplest chapter in the New 
Testament. In the government schools the pupils 
must worship the tablet of Confucius. As long as 
children in the government schools must be under 
heathen training and influence, it will be necessary for 
us to have mission schools. Besides chapel exercises, 
the Bible is taught daily to all the pupils in our schools. 
To the uninitiated it may seem that true missionary 
work is to go out and preach the gospel to men and 
women who have never heard it, whose ideas of right 
and wrong are perverted by a lifetime of training " in 
ways that are dark and tricks that are vain." Here 
we realize that it is much more worth while to take the 
children and train them in the way they should go, 
and in the knowledge of the truth. 

A new girl came to the school the other day. She 
has a contagious eye disease. Doctor Lessey said she 
must go to the hospital for treatment. She refused 
to go. After a time Mrs. Wan found that she had 
been told in her country home that the foreign doctors 
come here to take out children's eyes to use for medi- 

[50] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



cine. Do you wonder she was frightened half to 
death when the first thing the doctor said was that she 
must go to the hospital because there was something 
wrong with her eyes ? She has friends here who are 
Christians, and they have persuaded her to go, but 
it is with evident fear and trembling. It takes a long 
time to convince the Chinese that we are here with dis- 
interested motives. 

I have not seen a foreigner outside our own mission 
for weeks, so you can believe me when I say that I 
am not forgetting you, even if you do not hear often 

from 

Jane. 



[5i] 



XI 



Hanyang, May 19. 

My very dear Betsey: Your last letter came 
through in three weeks and a half. It does make me 
feel near home to have a letter come in such a short 
time. Sometimes I think you would not seem so far 
away if I were wealthy and could cable you and re- 
ceive a reply in a few hours. 

Last Saturday I went out calling with Miss Thomas 
and the Bible-woman. It was a novel experience for 
me. Some places we went with the express purpose of 
calling on people whom Miss Thomas knew; at other 
places we were walking through the streets, and the 
women would invite us to go in for a cup of tea, or 
to " sit a spell." (They use the same expression in 
Chinese.) Some homes were quite attractive, with 
inner courts, some blossoming plants, and large guest- 
rooms, where they served tea and sweets, and welcomed 
us most courteously. Others were poor little huts, 
which looked as if the dirt of ages had accumulated 
in them. In the better-class homes they had the an- 
cestral tablets, before which the children must wor- 
ship every morning. Most of the poorer homes had 
the paper picture door-gods. In one such home Miss 
Thomas asked the woman if she believed in idols. She 
said, " Oh, no ; idols cannot help a person." Then Miss 

[52] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Thomas asked why she had the door-gods up, and 
proceeded to preach the gospel to her. In one place 
we lost our way, and strayed into a court leading into 
a temple. One of the nuns saw us, and invited us in. 
The room was filled with the smoke of incense. There 
were numerous idols, and along the wall hung bunches 
of slips of paper, on which were printed prayers for 
sale. In the midst of these heathen surroundings 
we sat down, and the Bible-woman read and explained 
the Bible to the three nuns and a few other women who 
had followed us in. I could only pray that the seed 
of the word might fall into good ground. On Sun- 
day morning while we were at breakfast two women 
came to the dining-room window and peeped in at us. 
They were two of the Taoist nuns from the temple, 
who had come in response to the invitation to church. 
We took them into the guest-room, served tea of course, 
and Miss Thomas read to and talked with them till 
church time. They stayed not only for the church 
service, but also' for the women's meeting. 

One Sunday I went to one of the chapels for meet- 
ing, was early, and went into the evangelist's house 
to wait. If there had been some one to take the 
initiative I should have been all right, but I was alone 
with the evangelist's wife, a quiet little woman who 
waited for me to start the conversational ball rolling. 
With the best intentions of friendliness in the world, 
all I could think of to say was that the new little baby 
resembled its brother. After meditation for some time 
on possible ways of saying it, I decided not to venture 

[53l 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



so profound a remark. At last, when I had almost 
reached a state of desperation, that blessed baby cried. 
That gave me my opportunity. I exclaimed to the 
mother, " T'a k'uh (She cries)." Soon one of the 
church women came in. I was able to return her 
salutation, " Peace," and assure her I was well. Then 
I gravely told her, " T'a k'uh" The amah came in 
with a cup of tea for me, and I thanked her, and said, 
" T'a k'uh." Then it was time to go to meeting, so I 
thankfully got up and made my adieus, truthfully as- 
suring them that I had been very poor company. 

We have had the most beautiful moonlight nights. 
One night I took my Bible out on the up-stairs veranda 
and read a psalm by moonlight. I am working hard, 
preparing for my examination. Want to get it off 
before the dreadfully hot weather comes. 

With love to all, 

Jane. 



[54] 



XII 



Chi Kong Shan, June 21. 
Betsey dear: 

The best laid plans of mice and men 
Gang aft agley, 

and so it proved with mine. Doctor Lane is very ill. 
It wasn't safe for the children to remain down longer 
in the heat, and as I was the only one in the mission 
free to come, I brought them to the hills. We started 
at sunrise Tuesday morning. There were only twenty- 
four or five trunks, boxes, and bundles of bedding to 
bring. That meant over a dozen baggage coolies to 
carry things to the boats, and from there to the train, 
and two servants in charge. Then there were three 
men for my chair. I had the baby with me. The two 
girls rode together in a rickshaw; amah and the three 
boys walked. Quite a caravan ! Traveling in China is so 
different from America. I shall think I am in paradise 
if ever I get back to a place where I can pick up my 
bag and walk off without this everlasting fuss with 
coolies. They argue about how big a load they must 
carry. Such clamor and shouting and confusion and 
delay that one is tired before one gets started. 

Sedan-chairs were waiting for us at Sin Tien, where 
we left the train. It was an hour's ride up the moun- 

[55] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



tain over a narrow, winding path with long flights 
of stone steps. When Genevieve used to write me of 
flights of thousands of stone steps leading up the moun- 
tainside, I had a vision in my mind's eye of an inter- 
minable flight of white marble steps like those leading 
up to Grant's tomb. 

It has rained every day since we came. We are 
completely shut in by clouds and mist. We are on 
the ridge of the mountain, with a deep valley on either 
side, so when the clouds close down on us it seems 
that we are on the edge of the jumping-off place, and 
the only people in the world. When it clears, other 
bungalows are in sight, but few are occupied so< early 
in the season. 

This morning Gertrude and James, three and five 
years old, said they were going out to hunt snakes. 
After a while in they came in great glee with what they 
called a snake on the end of a stick. It was an ugly 
black worm of the centipede variety, five inches long 
and as big round as my thumb. It didn't take long 
for me to get that stick out of Gertrude's hands and kill 
the monster! 

Genevieve writes of torrential rains down in Han- 
yang. Weather in China is always too hot or too cold, 
too wet or too dry. It reminds me of the verses : 

For the most part man's a foot 
When it's hot he wants it cool, 
When it's cool he wants it hot, 
Always wanting what is not. 
For the most part man's a fool. 



[56] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



June 29. Back in Hanyang, with the mosquitoes 
buzzing around. Our houses are not screened. It 
would cost a fortune to screen as many and as large 
doors and windows as we have here. So for half the 
year we are pestered by the mosquitoes, not to speak 
of the bats, beetles, bugs, and moths that are attracted 
into our rooms by the lights at night. 

Wong Tai-Tai invited us to go with the Boarding 
School teachers to her home for a feast this week. 
Mrs. Wan and Miss Len declined the invitation because 
they heard that Mr. Wong was planning to sit down 
at the table with us. They hadn't the face to sit at 
table with a man. It was a great innovation. I had 
not known before that Mr. Wong had two wives. 
My Wong Tai-Tai had no son, so he took a second 
wife that he might please his mother by presenting 
her with a grandson. The grandson came. He is now 
seven months old, and is evidently the most important 
person in the family. The whole family sat down to- 
gether for the meal with us. It seemed real homey to 
me ; if only there had not been two wives ! 

Mr. Wong is an official in the iron-works, and they 
have a costly home, but don't think from that that 
it has hardwood floors and polished woodwork. In 
the Chinese guest-room was an old-fashioned kang, 
such as we see pictured in books. Although the floor 
was of poorly laid rough boards, the woodwork of the 
kang was inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and was beauti- 
fully carved. Crowds of dirty, ragged underlings 
crowded about the doors and windows watching us, 

[57] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



and it did not seem to occur to anybody that privacy 
would be desirable. The Chinese are certainly accus- 
tomed to living in the public eye. 

The second wife is a mere girl. She clung to me 
and seemed to try to win my favor all the afternoon, 
while we were being conducted around to see the 
iron-works. This is one of the largest in the world. 
We watched the whole process, saw them pour out the 
great caldrons of molten metal in red-hot streams, and 
finally saw the completed steel rails, which I hope will 
some day help to bind the distant parts of China to 
Wu Han, the hub of the wheel. 

Chinese ladies are usually so conservative, refusing 
to go into a mixed meeting, or even to associate in 
any way with the common women. But lately Wong 
Tai-Tai comes to the church meetings. She remains 
for Miss Len's Bible class with the schoolgirls on Sun- 
day afternoons. Mrs. Wan tells us that her home life 
is very unhappy, and she likes to get away from the 
quarrefmg and gambling, and come here where it is 
quiet and she can listen to the doctrine. I am praying 
that she may find peace and comfort in the Saviour. 

Still it rains, rains, rains, and the mosquitoes buzz, 
buzz, buzz. 

Ruling, July 5. At last we are settled for our sum- 
mer vacation. I suppose you know that the first 
part of the trip coming here is a night on one of the 
large river steamers like that on which I came from 
Shanghai. We reached Kiu Kiang at eight in the 

[58] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



morning. From there we came in chairs. I shall 
never forget that ride out through Kiu Kiang. Be- 
cause of the mud and the heat the sights were even 
more offensive than usual. The streets were swim- 
ming in oozy, slimy, black mud. So far as possible, 
whole families sought the open air to escape the stifling 
heat of their wretched hovels. Weary, disheveled 
mothers tried to hush the wailing of their babies by 
'holding them to their breasts, or perhaps scolded 
or slapped the older children. The majority of the 
men were guiltless of coat or shirt, dressed simply in 
loose, baggy trousers rolled up high above the knees. 
Some lay sleeping on benches so narrow as to make 
one marvel at their being able to maintain their equi- 
librium. Some people had moved their tiny stoves 
out into the street, and smoke and the strong odors 
of Chinese cookery mingled with the usual smells. 
How I did pity the poor people who must live in such 
surroundings during the almost unbearable heat of 
the summer! I was glad to get out of the city to the 
open plain, where the sight of the eternal hills looming 
up in the distance helped me banish the thought of 
the misery I was leaving behind. Why am I the 
favored one, always to have known the pleasures of 
life in a Christian land? I often think there could be 
no better evidences of Christianity than the contrast- 
ing conditions in a heathen and a Christian land. The 
darkness of heathenism cannot be described. It must 
be lived in to be understood. 

It is a glorious trip up the mountain. In one place 

e [59] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



is a magnificent gorge, with a beautiful cascade pour- 
ing over the rocks. To look ahead, it seemed we never 
could climb to the top of the mountain. My chair 
coolies traveled faster than the others, so after we left 
the half-way house at the foot of the mountain, where 
we had our lunch, I did not see Genevieve or any other 
foreigner. We saw crowds of coolies going up and 
down. Those coming up were heavily loaded, those 
downward bound were empty-handed. Everything 
which is used here, even to building materials except 
stone, is carried up the mountain by coolies. Our little 
cottage is perched way up as high as we can get. 
Genevieve and I are alone at present, but the others 
will soon come. 

We have a magnificent view. Sometimes the distant 
valley is filled with storm-tossed clouds, which remind 
me of the ocean ; again they will gleam in great white 
billows, or melt away under the bright sunshine. We 
have ^ad one wonderful sunset, which made me feel 
that I was far above the sordid cares of earth, and 
very near the glories of the Celestial City. This is 
the largest summer resort in China, and people come 
here from long distances. It has rained ever since 
we came, so I have seen no one, but expect to make 
many pleasant acquaintances. I am sure the weeks 
here will be a time of spiritual as well as physical 
refreshment. 

With much love, 

Jane. 



[60] 



XIII 



KULING, AugUSt II. 

Betsey mine: Your letters are always a joy, but 
never more so than here at the hills. In spite of all the 
pleasant days it does seem a waste of time not to be 
at home when I cannot be at work with the Chinese. 
Oh, if I could have two days at home and hear and 
say all I want to, then I am sure I should be ready for 
another year on the foreign field. I don't say much, 
dear ; but I must confess that sometimes I do get power- 
ful homesick. 

The rains descended and the floods came in the 
Yangtze Valley. Our hospital compound is under 
flood, and Doctor Lessey went down for a few days 
to attend to things. She reports a condition of great 
distress among the people. Many are flooded out of 
their homes. Cholera has broken out, and already 
there have been many deaths. She says there was wail- 
ing for the dead in every village they passed through 
on the way. 

The water on the hospital compound is three and 
four feet deep, and they have to use boats to go about. 
Some of the men caught a fish a foot and a half long 
in front of the hospital door. All the flowers and 
shrubbery are dead, and the trees are drowning. Our 
compound is not under water, but the surrounding 

[61] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



streets are. I don't like to think of the conditions our 
poor people are existing in. 

A letter came from Mrs. Wan to-day. She says: 
" I take prayer more diligent than usual. I feel it is a 
great advantage to me that I spend my time in thinking 
of God, and how great his love must be. During the 
summer vacation I imagine that my religious thought 
is more ardent than before. I am anxious to be able 
to preach the gospel to the girls when they return 
to the school." 

Dr. F. B. Meyer has been here for the conference, 
and the meetings have been a blessing to all of us. He 
took dinner with us one day, and we greatly enjoyed 
having him here. 

Lovingly, 

Jane. 



[62] 



XIV 



Hanyang, September 15. 

My own Betsey : We returned the last of August. 
We couldn't get coolies to carry us or our things, and 
it looked for a few hours as if we would start out 
walking, with one of us carrying our suit-cases and 
the other with the mattress on the top of her head. In 
fact, that was the way Hu Si-fu started. The native 
police almost fought to get men to carry our chairs, 
we meanwhile sitting for hours in the chairs in the 
middle of the road in the broiling sun. Finally three 
men were despatched with our baggage (all but bed 
and hand-bags had been sent ahead), and we were 
off. Soon we came up to one man carrying our bed. 
He recognized us and asked, " Shi Siao-tsieh-tih pei- 
uh, ma (It's the misses' bed) ? " He kept with us all 
the way to Kiu Kiang, going at almost a dog-trot, with 
that heavy mattress and all our bedding rolled in it on 
his shoulders, under the blistering rays of the sun. 

The heat seems doubly depressing after being at the 
hills. The sights in the cities are heartrending. The 
women are decently clothed, but the men and children 
go in every stage of dress and undress. Many of them 
look like the pictures of India famine sufferers. Ordi- 
narily the Yangtze is a mile wide here. The flood has 
transformed it into a great body of water. Where the 

[63] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



water is deep in a house the people put up a scaffold, 
and there they cook, eat, and sleep perched up on that 
little shelf. Oh, you cannot imagine it, for you have 
never seen anything to give you the faintest conception 
of such an existence. 

Before we had our door unlocked Pastor Tsao's son 
came to- invite us to tiffin at their house. Several of 
the women were there to welcome us. It was a warm 
welcome, but they kept the punkah going, so it made 
the heat more bearable. 

After prayer-meeting Wednesday evening Miss Len 
sent for us to go to the school. She was dressed up 
as an old countrywoman. She has natural feet, but 
they were bundled up and the toes stuck into small 
shoes. She imitated the country twang, examined our 
clothes, and played the countrywoman to such perfec- 
tion that she kept the girls in a gale of laughter. She 
declared they had no manners at all. 

The girls have been organizing a new huei (so- 
ciety). They brought Genevieve a paper, on which 
they had written the different objects of the society. 
Here is a part of what I make out of it: 

" I desire (or vow) to have a forbearing heart." 

" I desire to pray that I may have a perfect heart." 

" I desire to repent of my sins and become a new 
person." 

" I desire with the whole heart to trust Jesus to 
save." 

There is more, but this will give you an idea of it. 
One of the girls last term was so dull and stupid 

[64] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



it seemed she could learn nothing. The girls formed a 
society to pray that she might have tsong-ming (wis- 
dom). This term she is doing fairly well, and she says 
the heavenly Father has opened up her mind. 

We are having dreadful times with rats. The floods 
have driven them out of the native houses, so they've 
come to< visit us. Several nights I awoke with the feel- 
ing that something was moving along my woven-wire 
springs. I thought perhaps there was a lizard or bat 
making its home there, but when I would look in the 
morning I could find nothing. At last it got on my 
nerves, so I got out in the night, and what do you 
guess it was? A big rat meandering over the iron 
slats. Of course it was not there when I got my lamp 
lighted, but I heard it in the clothes-press. I played 
hide and seek with it for a half-hour. The rats here 
can run up a perfectly smooth wall, and seem to delight 
in climbing, so if they cannot get in at the door they 
can at the window. The same night one was up on 
the top of Genevieve's mosquito-net frame. She tucks 
herself up in her net and lets the rats play by them- 
selves, but when there is any fun going I want to be 
in it. For several nights I have kept my lamp burning, 
and a bamboo pole placed where I can rattle it over 
the slats. No rats have appeared for two or three 
nights, so I am hoping that I have scared them away, 
and that I shall not share the fate of Bishop Hatto, of 
Mouse Tower fame. Things seem to go by seasons 
here, and I hope rat season is nearly past. The bat 
season is the longest. It lasts seven or eight months. 

[65] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Not only do they swoop in on us when we have a light, 
but during the night they waken us by darting back 
and forth, sometimes thumping against the walls, or 
flopping over the floor, or getting entangled in the 
mosquito-net, until we get up and catch them and put 
them out. I have had to get up two or three times 
some nights on account of the bats. The mosquitoes 
are more disagreeable, but the season does not last 
quite so long. In the spring and summer they are big 
and so numerous that it is only with greatest care that 
one can pop into bed without letting two or three mos- 
quitoes under the net. Now there are not so many, 
but they are vicious little black-and-white striped ones 
that bite right through our clothes. This is lizard sea- 
son too. One dropped down my sleeve the other 
night when I reached up to bolt the hall door. I like 
them about as well as I do snakes. I was in the dark, 
and thought perhaps it was a moth-miller. When I 
came to the light and saw what it was, I danced around 
and shook my arm nearly off, while Genevieve jumped 
on a chair and squealed. Brave missionaries, aren't 
we? To-night when I closed my shutter one dropped 
on my shoulder. Some people make pets of lizards, 
but it's not we-uns. 

I never know whether to say good night or the tip 
o' the mornin' to you, for when it's one here it's the 
other there. This brings bushels of love from 



Jane. 
[66] 



XVj 



Hanyang, October 10. 

Dear Betsey: I would give almost anything if I 
could see and talk with you to-night instead of writing. 
It's lucky that I am so busy I don't have much time 
to think, otherwise I might pack my trunk and sail for 
home to-morrow ! Your letters are a balm to the home- 
sick, but they are so good and like yourself they make 
me want to see you more than ever. 

Genevieve and I went to the Wesleyan Mission Blind 
School one day last week. Most of the boys are beg- 
gars whom they have taken off the street. They teach 
them to read by the braille system, having adapted it 
to Chinese, and the boys copy whole books to be used 
as text-books in the school. They are most successful 
in training them for organists. Our blind organist was 
trained in this school. He has memorized all the three 
hundred and thirty tunes in the hymn-book, and not 
only that, but the words and the number of the verses 
as well, so when the third verse of the two hundred and 
fifty-ninth hymn is called for he can start to sing it 
faster than another person could find the place in the 
book. The students went into the chapel and sang 
for us, and some are really fine singers and musicians. 
One of the boys wrote some Bible verses in braille for 
us as souvenirs. Another boy can repeat the entire 

[67] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



New Testament verbatim. There are very few schools 
for the blind in China. Think what it must mean to 
these boys to be rescued from the miserable existence 
of blind beggars, taught to read, and enabled to be- 
come useful, self-supporting citizens. It must seem al- 
most as wonderful to the Chinese as the restoration of 
sight to the blind was to the people of Palestine in the 
days of Christ. Sometimes our blind organist takes 
his braille Bible to church and reads the Scripture les- 
son. Strangers stare at him in amazement. 

We walked to the Han, and from there to the school. 
Coming home it was raining, and as we had on white 
suits (I mean they were white when we started), we de- 
cided to take rickshaws out to the foreign concession 
and come from there by boats. We had to walk a half- 
mile through the mud before we could get rickshaws. 
We had been riding but a few moments when we were 
stopped by a policeman, who informed us that we could 
not ride in any of those rickshaws, because they were 
all huei-liao (spoiled), and foreigners could not ride in 
huei-liaoed rickshaws. We tried persuasion and bland- 
ishment, but all to no purpose; we never thought to 
offer him money, which no doubt would have worked. 
He wouldn't allow the rickshaw man to go farther with 
us, and we were forced to get out and walk until we 
had left the custodian of the law behind, then men came 
with more huei-liaoed rickshaws, and we were glad to 
accept their invitation to ride. 

Doctor Chapman and Mr. Alexander with their 
evangelistic party were in Hankow two days on their 

[68] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



way home from the Australian campaign. They held 
meetings late each evening. It is only on rarest occa- 
sions that we go to Hankow after dark because the 
river is so dangerous, but this was one of the rare 
occasions when we decided to go — Doctor Lane, Doc- 
tor Lessey, Genevieve, and I. The meeting was so 
good, and it was so pleasant to meet people from home 
that we were well repaid for going. It was late when 
we started home. Rickshaws could bring us only as far 
as the native city, the streets there being so narrow that 
they are not allowed. We decided to walk as far as 
possible, rather than go on the river. So doctor 
lighted his lantern and we set forth. Our light flick- 
ered and went out, absolutely refusing to burn. Doc- 
tor said he could get a Chinese lantern on another 
street. We walked and walked, and at last came to a 
place where we bought a candle, but still could find no 
lantern to put it in. After we had gone up and down 
dark side streets, and back and forth on the main 
street, a man volunteered to conduct us to a lantern- 
shop. It was closed. We pounded on the door, and 
bystanders added their voices to vigorous shouting, 
which soon brought out a boy who sold us a lantern. 
A crowd of men and boys had collected by this time, 
and they were much amused to see us with a disabled 
foreign lantern, and having to carry a native one. 
Even at that hour of the night we met beggars, some 
crying out at the top of their voices. Men had their 
beds out, or slept on benches in the streets. When we 
reached the Han we took a small covered boat. I never 



[69] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



had been in one like it before. The sheets of bamboo- 
matting forming the cover were so* low we could 
scarcely sit upright. We had to crawl in on our hands 
and knees over the boatman's clothes and bedding, and 
sit among his possessions. I expected we would have 
to flee from fleas for the next few days, and was not 
mistaken. 

A new girl came to school this week. Her brother 
is a student in Denison, Ohio. He has become a 
Christian, and for the last two years he has been wri- 
ting home to his father to send his sister to a mission 
school. The parents, uncle, and other relatives came 
with her to see the school. She is eighteen years old, 
and has never been away from her mother to stay 
before. The father said they had never heard our 
doctrine, but are interested because of what the son 
has written; and he wants his daughter to learn it so 
she can go home and tell them. It is hard for the girls 
to start study when they are as old as this, but Liu 
Yu-Yin seems a promising pupil because she is inter- 
ested. I wish some more of the Chinese college stu- 
dents in America would send their sisters to our 
school. 

Funerals are common occurrences, but I saw my first 
high official one to-day. We heard firing of guns, and 
went out to see what it meant. The procession crossed 
the soldiers' drill-ground back of our compound, so we 
had a good view. We watched from the schoolhouse 
veranda, and Mrs. Wan told us the meaning of things. 
First came a man carrying a large tablet bearing the 

[7o] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



illustrious name of the deceased. Then several men 
with red tablets (boards on which characters are in- 
scribed, carried on a pole as we would carry a banner) . 
The red signified that his title had been given him 
by the emperor. On these tablets were his title, names 
of places he had ruled over, and public works he had 
done. These were followed by men bearing blue 
tablets, telling of his rule in different places. Next 
were the soldiers and a number of army officers, the 
latter on horseback. When an official does " very 
good works " the people present him with what the 
Chinese call an umbrella. Not the kind which keeps 
off the rain, but a red or yellow silk affair to carry 
before him to show how highly he is honored. It 
is embroidered with many characters, indicating the 
high esteem in which the recipient is held, and it be- 
tokens very great honor. Two- of these umbrellas, one 
red and one yellow, were carried by men following 
the soldiers. Then a sedan-chair containing a painted 
likeness of the man, and another containing his clothes, 
hat, and shoes. The sons-in-law walked on either side. 
The coffin was almost large enough for a hearse. It 
was covered with gold-embroidered red satin. Male 
relatives and friends walked before the coffin (it would 
not be respectful for them to ride). Long white 
streamers were attached to the coffin, and the sons, 
grandsons, and nephews each held one of these, but the 
weight of the coffin was borne by thirty-two coolies. 
After the coffin came the outsiders, and then sedan- 
chairs in which were the wives, daughters, daughters- 

[7i] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



in-law, and nephews' wives. The people walked just a 
certain distance apart, and everything was very orderly, 
quite unusual for China. Mrs. Wan said the man must 
be very happy because he had so many sons. It seems 
strange for a Christian to make such a remark, doesn't 
it ? But people cling to old opinions, and I suppose it 
will be long before a daughter will be as welcome as 
a son in China. One day Genevieve and Kai Chuin 
were watching the burning of some paper furniture for 
the dead, and Genevieve asked him about it. She said 
dead people couldn't use them after they were burned, 
could they? And Kai Chuin replied, " Oh, yes; people 
who had not joined the church could, but they were 
no use to kiao-huei-tih-ren (church people)." One of 
our old church-members who died feared that the 
members of the family who were not Christian would 
burn paper furniture for him, and he begged them 
not to. He said that the Lord had prepared everything 
for him, and he would " have no face " before God 
if his people sent these paper things for him. Poor 
ignorant old man! His heart was right, if his ideas 
were not. 

I've been to the fair! The teachers and all the 
schoolgirls went with us in the steam-launch to Wu 
Chang. (There is one that runs there irregularly, but 
none to Hankow.) Everything at the exhibit was 
manufactured in Hupeh, our province. There were 
pictures, carvings, embroidery, old and new furniture, 
electrical apparatus, rugs, cloth, bronze, brass, and dif- 
ferent kinds of earthenware, lawn-mowers, stoves, 

[72] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



baby organs — all sorts of things that I never dreamed 
were made in Hupeh. Then there was a menagerie, 
a tiger, a leopard, and some birds of paradise. The 
girls were greatly excited. Wong Tai-Tai went with 
us, and then brought us home in their steam-launch. 
Imagine the luxury of your heathen missionary sister 
traveling around in a private launch. I did have a 
good time. 

With love, 

Jane. 



[73] 



XVI 



November 12. 



One day this last week 
There came to our door 
A Ching-a-ling sleek, 
I had seen him before. 
He bowed down quite meek, 
And made haste to implore 
Me to take just a peek 
At the packet he bore. 

His embroidery old, 

In every bright hue, 

Red, yellow, and gold, 

Purple, scarlet, and blue — 

Their beauties he told; 

And I looked them all through. 

Then one piecie he sold 

To this old maiden shrew; 

And now I make bold 

To send it to you, 

Betsey dear, with my best wishes for a merry 
Christmas. 

One year last Tuesday since I landed in Kanyang. 
Mrs. Wan and Miss Len came over in the evening to 
help celebrate. We were shelling peanuts and making 
fudge when Kin Ma, the school cook, came and rang 
the door-bell long and loud, calling out, " Fire ! Fire ! " 
The peanuts flew, and we rushed over to the school. 
Mr. Gage and his boy came with fire-extinguishers. 

[74] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



The fire was in the native street back of the school, 
and was out by the time we reached there. The 
teachers came back after the excitement was over. 
Before I came to China I thought I was to work with 
the Chinese, but associate only with the missionaries! 
Queer ideas we Americans have, haven't we? We 
spend nearly all our time with the Chinese, and enjoy 
being with them. Already I count Mrs. Wan and Miss 
Len among my friends. It has meant much to me to 
be associated with these two splendid young women. 

Miss Paddock, Chinese National Young Women's 
Christian Association Secretary, has been here to help 
the girls of the school organize a Young Women's 
Christian Association. They are so interested. It is 
to be a strictly Chinese affair. All the schoolgirls who 
are old enough have joined, also three hospital nurses, 
and some of the young women of the church. Every 
Sunday the school-members of the Y. W. go out into 
the homes or to the hospital to kiang tao-li (preach 
the doctrine). When they came in last Sunday Mrs. 
Wan was so happy because every girl had "opened 
her mouth " and explained the word. 

I have started a Sunday-school for girls. It is the 
most wonderful thing that has happened to me since 
I came to China. Mrs, Wan is superintendent. And I 
have a class ! They are from the highest class in the 
school, can read for themselves, and are guaranteed 
to be bright enough to understand even my twisted, 
garbled Chinese. We have a teachers' meeting each 
week to study the lesson. 

f [75] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



San Teh is gone; and the house shows his absence 
wofully. We miss him at every turn. When we ring 
the bell no San Teh comes bounding to answer the 
call ; instead, his brother comes blundering through the 
house, and we heave a sigh as we tell him what we 
want, and wonder if we shall get it. He is fresh from 
the farm, and is too old to train as a house boy. San 
Teh was too smart a boy to be always a servant, so we 
have sent him to a mission school, and hope that he 
may become a teacher or a preacher. The girl he is 
engaged to is in our school. She is dull and queer, but 
I hope the school will make as much difference in her 
as it has in some of the other girls. The fates seem to 
have decreed that we shall always have one dependable 
servant in the house. The new coolie, Pao Chen, is 
almost as much of a treasure in his way as San Teh 
was. He is sixteen years old, tall, lanky, and as homely 
as they are made. When he escorts, us to Hankow 
in the boat he promptly falls asleep, and sits with eyes 
rolling and mouth wide open, swaying around until I 
am afraid he will capsize the boat. Once I told him if 
he wanted to sleep to sit down in the bottom of the 
boat. Then he did sit up and keep his mouth shut 
for a few minutes. 

The chrysanthemums are in blossom, and I have 
some small white ones in my dragon vase on the table 
by the window, and pink ones in the slender glass vase 
on the mantel. 

I am doing something besides study this fall. In 
addition to my Sunday-school and teachers' meeting 

[76] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



I have two English classes a day, and two of the 
women of the church come to me to learn to read 
Chinese. Can you imagine me trying to teach a 
Chinese woman to read her own language? It is, no 
doubt, as funny as it sounds. Sometimes I cannot 
make them understand. But they are making a little 
progress, and some day when they can read I'll let 
you know. The ignorance of the women is appalling. 
When we hear that women in China have no education 
we do not realize what that means to the women. 
Most of the women here know nothing outside the 
little treadmill circle of their home life. They quarrel 
and gossip and smoke and gamble ; they bring children 
into the world to survive if they belong to the fittest, 
or to die if they are unfit to. overcome the handicap 
imposed upon them by heredity and environment; some 
of them spend their whole life in a ceaseless struggle to 
keep the wolf from the door. Betsey, thank the Lord 
every day that you were born in a Christian land and a 
Christian home. It is more to be thankful for than 
you know. 

The new nurse, Lyde Jennings, has come, and is 
living here while studying the language. She has such 
a bright, sunny disposition that it is very pleasant 
for us to have her in the house. 

We are to go to the Gages for Thanksgiving dinner. 

Affectionately, 



Jane. 
177] 



XVII 



Hanyang, February 8. 

Darling Betsey : Famine refugees have been flock- 
ing into Hanyang by the hundreds to-day. From our 
window we could watch them cross the drill-ground, 
such pitiable sights. Perhaps the father would be ahead 
carrying the sheets of matting for a mat-shed on his 
head, then a son with stakes, another with two large 
baskets on a carrying-pole over his shoulder, one or 
two babies in one basket, and household effects in the 
other. Every child who was big enough to carry 
anything helped in the moving. 

Thousands of people are camping in these mat- 
sheds between the city wall and our hospital. The 
older missionaries say they have never seen so many 
beggars in Hanyang before. Many men are too poor 
even to buy a carrying-pole so as to be able to do 
coolie work. One day one of our teachers saw two 
little boys on the street in bitterly cold weather when 
there was snow on the ground, calling out that the 
clothes they wore were for sale. The teacher asked 
why, and they replied that they were alone in the world 
with their mother. She was ill, and they had had 
nothing to eat for two days. They might better go 
naked than to starve. Boys and girls are offered for 
sale as slaves for only a few hundred cash. Mothers 

[78] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



come to the school and offer to give us their baby 
daughters. 

There is so much suffering around us that we seem 
helpless in the face of such appalling want. Even now 
when the hills are almost bare, there are always people 
roaming over them in search of any kind of grass or 
weeds that are edible. A famine relief station has 
been established, and tickets are given out to the poor 
people to go there and get buckets of thin boiled rice. 
Barely enough is allowed a family to keep them from 
starvation. 

This has been a dark day with a drizzly rain. If 
you could have looked in on me this is what you would 
have seen. My teacher came in with his wadded 
jacket wet, so he took it off and hung it over a chair 
in front of the fire. My Bible-woman, Mrs. Huang, 
sat on a low stool, using a chair as a table, writing 
verses of Scripture on cards to give out. Two tables 
were loaded down with the various books I use in the 
course of the day's study. My teacher sat opposite me 
at the study-table. The transom was open, but the 
room smelled strongly Chinese nevertheless. It was 
thus that I translated twenty pages of the Sacred 
Edict to-day. 

Yesterday Mrs. Lane brought a Miss Austin to call 
on me. As soon as she stepped in she exclaimed, 
" Oh, what a pretty, cozy room ! " And then, " Isn't 
this like home ? " And afterward, " Well, I think 
I could study well in a room like this." She isn't a 
sweet girl graduate, but a gray-haired China Inland 

[79 3 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



missionary. So, you see, I have succeeded in making 
my room look homey. There is not an expensive thing 
in the room, and many things are not according to my 
taste. The thing which I particularly do not like is 
the rug. I waited for months before buying it, hoping 
I could find one I would like. But at last, in despair of 
that, I took a tapestry Brussels, a green mossy back- 
ground with festooned roses. The Chinese think it is 
perfectly beautiful. One day one of the girls came 
in, and after looking around she said, " This is like 
heaven." I said, " Oh, no ; heaven is much more beauti- 
ful than this." " Well," she said, " if heaven is as good 
as this I shall be satisfied." I wonder what she would 
think of some of the homes we know! Of course, we 
each have the pleasure (?) of furnishing our own 
rooms as much as possible according to our own taste ; 
but the getting of it done, ah, there's the rub ! It seems 
during the process that it is not worth while. The 
furniture you order is too high or two low, too short 
or too broad. You iterate and reiterate that you want 
a dull oak finish, and you may get a green finish with 
varnish. The one " piecie " furniture made to fit a 
certain corner does not fit. It is so damp that we can- 
not have wall-paper, but must use color-wash, which is 
invariably splashed all over the floor and woodwork. 
And, in turn, when the floor and woodwork are painted, 
the paint is daubed over the walls. The color-washers 
spoil the painters' work and vice versa, until you give 
up in despair and order the coolie to wash the color- 
wash off the paint, whereupon he proceeds to besprinkle 

[So] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the walls plentifully with dirty water. (Pao Chen 
doesn't, because he's good ; but he is the exception. ) I 
had a box seat made for the stair-landing. I gave 
most careful directions and measurements, and insisted 
that it must have a pretty, dark red, varnish stain. 
The box came, three feet too short, several inches 
higher than I had ordered, and a dull, ugly yellow stain, 
and the finish and make entirely different from what 
I had ordered. Needless to say, I refused to accept 
that one, although the carpenter assured me it was 
ts'ah-puh-to (off-not-far) what I had ordered. Next 
time the box was really ts'ah-puh-to, but instead of 
being stained and varnished it was painted a cheap, 
horrid red with no varnish. The paint was wet. I do 
not doubt that they had daubed it on (they use a rag 
instead of a brush), and walked straight over here 
with it. It was not an easy thing to place, and by the 
time they had tried their own way until they were per- 
suaded that there was only the one way I had suggested 
to get it in, the walls were a sight, smeared with paint 
from down-stairs to up-stairs. Then I sent for the 
carpenter and told him he must change the paint. A 
man came and sandpapered and varnished the box, 
not just as I had ordered, but ts'ah-puh-to! If one 
thing is done right something else is certain to be 
spoiled in the doing of it. Poor Genevieve's hair is 
turning gray over her troubles trying to keep the 
school building in repair. It's enough to make you 
weep and gnash your teeth to see the things these 
workmen will do. 

[81] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Miss Jennings and I went to a meeting at the Shuang 
Kiai last week. On the way home in the rowboat a 
steam-launch was coming in to tie up to a hulk. The 
men on the launch shouted for us to go ahead, and we 
did so. It seemed perfectly safe, we were gliding 
swiftly along, and the launch came slowing in. No 
one thought of danger. But suddenly our little boat 
was close by the hulk on the one side, and the launch 
was right upon us. When I saw we were caught 
and could not gQt out either forward or back I jumped 
and caught one of the posts on the hulk. There was 
no footing to climb, and I could neither throw nor pull 
myself up, so there I hung. One of the Chinese men 
on the launch did the bravest deed I have ever seen : 
he jumped from the forward deck of the launch down 
into our boat; then he and Pao Chen and the front 
boatman threw Miss Jennings up onto the hulk, and 
scrambled up themselves. The other boatman looked 
out for himself only. It was not until the last instant, 
when the launch was almost touching me and still 
coming nearer, and I thought I must surely be crushed 
to death between it and the hulk, that the others no- 
ticed my position and drew me up safely not an in- 
stant too soon. No one was hurt, but I do feel 
awed when I think, " What if ! " 

The soldiers are on the drill-ground, marching in 
goose-step to the music of fife and drum. I should 
put a question-mark after the music, for it is more than 
questionable 

Jane. 



[82] 



XVIII 



Hanyang, March 20. 

Dear Betsey: Such a lovely surprise as I had to- 
day! An unexpected American mail, with six letters 
for me! If my friends knew how much their letters 
are appreciated they would write oftener. 

We went to Hankow to-day. I wish I could give 
you a moving-picture show of the sights we saw on the 
way. The river is low, and there was almost a city 
of mat-sheds on the mud-flats. It was a sunshiny day, 
so all the puh-kai (a cross between a comfortable and a 
mattress, made of matted cotton-batting, often having 
no cloth cover) were spread out on top of the huts to 
sun — the most dreadful, dirty old things, as you might 
imagine they would be when they are used on piles of 
straw on the ground for beds. The people in the 
mat-sheds have no beds, and the rain or snow must 
make the floors almost as muddy as outdoors. All the 
old tattered garments- were also out sunning. There 
were dirty children, women down on their knees wash- 
ing their clothes in the muddy river, and families living 
in little rowboats. A man who was being rowed down 
the river was economizing his time by taking a bath 
on the way ; he had his trousers rolled up, and was giv- 
ing his feet and legs a good scrubbing. A woman in 
one boat had her head down on the boat's edge, and 

[83] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



a child in the next boat was examining it. When 
we landed in Hankow a long row of men with half 
their clothes off were ejecting the tenants therefrom. 
Swarms of coolies like ants were carrying earth from 
the river's edge to fill in low ground, and scores of 
wretched beggars were uttering their plaints. In the 
boats were some people of the upper class, both men 
and women, in handsome silks and satins and furs; 
the women painted and powdered, and bedecked with 
loads of jewelry. A large boat, on which was an 
official, passed us. When he landed, several runners 
went ahead, carrying his red silk umbrella and clear- 
ing the street before his sedan-chair, which was carried 
by four men. 

It was two o'clock when we got home for tiffin — 
soup like thick dish-water, light gray mashed potatoes, 
minced meat, and greasy fritters. Genevieve threw one 
at the door, but I picked it up quick before the boy 
came back. He was in a dirty, wadded gown. 

I have a Sunday meeting at the Shuang Kiai chapel 
now. Started last month. Forty-five women and girls 
were present at my first meeting. It almost took my 
breath away, for I expected only a few. It was my 
maiden speech in Chinese. It was hard, but Genevieve 
went, and she said she thought the women understood. 
The worst of Chinese is that one may learn and say 
a sentence as carefully as possible, and then spoil the 
whole sense by giving the wrong inflection to one word. 
For instance, kuei in one tone means honorable, in an- 
other tone it means devil. Only a trained ear could 

[84] 




A RURAL LAUNDRY 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



distinguish the difference in the tones. It is cus- 
tomary to always speak of " your honorable country." 
One night an old man got up in our prayer-meeting 
and was talking about the evil spirits, or devils, in 
China. He said there are very many, and that is 
the reason the foreigners always speak of " your devil 
country." Needless to say, he had heard some for- 
eigner put the wrong inflection on the kuei, which had 
changed a remark intended to be very complimentary 
into the very reverse. The teachers and some of the 
schoolgirls were almost convulsed over the old man's 
remarks, for they knew what the foreigners had meant 
to say. Even at the risk of not appearing very polite, 
I always avoid the use of the word honorable in speak- 
ing of a person's family or country. I have made the 
Shuang Kiai meeting into a Sunday-school too. That 
is at noon, and the one here at three. It does seem 
good and familiar to* have to rush from one place 
to the other and to be very busy on Sunday again. I 
have rosy day-dreams of the future. 



Your own 

Jane. 



[85] 



XIX 



Hanyang, May 17. 

Me darlin' Betsey : Me chum, she had a vacation 
to-day. Sich bein' infrequent with her, she says, says 
she, " Let's go to Wu Chang an' have a lark." So me 
an' me lady friend, Miss Jennings, we was that agree- 
able to the idea, we jist dropped our books, an' took the 
coolie, an' away we went a sailin' across the river. It 
was nigh onto three hours that we was gone, an' sich 
sights as we seen an' curious- things as we bought! 
We rode in them haythenish things as ye've heard 
called jinirickshas. I got meself some iligent new wri- 
tin' paper, an' me that crazy to use some of it I could 
scarcely wait till we was afther gettin' home. Shure 
it's all as Chinesy as I could foind, an' at the same 
toime I call it that handsome as never was. To be shure, 
the natives use only one kind to a letter, but seein' it's so 
foine I'm thinkin' I'll be afther sendin' ye a piece of 
each kind jist so ye can see what the pretty pictures 
look loike. I do be hopin' that me writin' will not 
spoil the looks of it to me Betsey's eyes. The Chinese 
is that queer, an' they turn the paper the other way of 
the goods, an' write the characters from top to bottom 
between the lines. Now, wouldn't that jar yer mither's 
preserves ? 

I bought a very auld bronze vase that looks loike it 

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LETTERS TO BETSEY 



had been used for a hammer. Leastways I'm thinkin' 
it's auld, an' indade an' it can't be new when it's all 
battered up as it is. So when I come home I'll bring 
it along, an' perhaps I'll give it to ye for a curio. 
Them is things what the childer has knocked around 
till they're all smashed an' battered up, an' then the 
storekeepers ask big prices for the same, because they're 
auld. That isn't our way in the auld.counthry; but as 
I've telled ye before, these haythen people is that 
queer ! I got another thing, but I don't guess I'll tell 
ye what, for I may sind it to ye for a birthday prisent. 
This last-named article is not a curio here, but beloike 
it will be by the time it gets to Ameriky. Mrs. Wan, 
the matron to the school, do generally be laffin' at me 
purchases, but to-day she says they are not that bad 
nor expensive. 

We have lost one of our schoolgirls. She had been 
here a few weeks when her brother died, and another 
brother became ill. Her people were certain when the 
second one was taken sick that the spirits were dis- 
pleased because they had sent this girl to a school to 
learn the foreign doctrine, so they took her away. Poor 
girl, she did so want to stay. But superstition has 
doomed her to a life of ignorance, and we can do 
nothing for her. Another of the girls is engaged to a 
man who is a gambler, opium-smoker, and good-for- 
nothing. She has begged Genevieve to find something 
for her to do; she says she would rather die than go 
home and marry that man; but we are helpless, for 
custom in regard to engagements here is stronger than 

[87] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



law at home, and it is rarely that a missionary tries 
to interfere. Another girl thirteen years old is un- 
happy because her parents think of engaging her to a 
man, much older than herself, who is not a Christian. 
They are church-members, but dreadfully poor, and 
they know of no better way to get some money than 
to engage the little girl to this man. Think of the 
bliss of American girls, who, if they cannot marry 
the man of their choice, do not have to marry anybody. 
Chinese girls have absolutely no choice in the matter. 

It has rained almost incessantly for weeks. There 
is danger of the crops being drowned out and of famine 
coming again. The Chinese are so dependent upon 
the weather, and it seems to be always what they do 
not want, in the superlative degree. People have been 
saying to the Christians, " Our gods don't hear us, and 
your God doesn't hear you," because everybody has 
been praying for dry weather, and it has not come. 

Congratulations are in order ! At last I have passed 
my final language examination and am a full-fledged 
missionary. Now do not think that I know all about 
Chinese. " Far from it." I have been given the super- 
vision of the girls' day-schools, and the women's work 
at the Hankow and Shuang Kiai chapels. At Shuang 
Kiai the evangelist's wife, Mrs. Shih, is a good 
worker. She is the teacher of the day-school, plays 
the baby organ at all the meetings, and helps me with 
the women's meetings. Mr. Shih is a young man who 
grew up in our mission. He was an evangelist, but 
was offered a salary about five times as big in con- 

[88] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



nection with some official position in Peking. He went, 
but neither he nor Mrs. Shih was happy not to be in 
Christian work, so last year they returned to the mis- 
sion with its meager salary. 

Last week Mr. Shih went with me to call on some 
of the church-members. The first place was a nice 
home — I mean as Chinese homes go. No doubt you 
would think it horrid. The woman invited some of the 
neighbors, who will not go to church, to come in and 
meet us. We waited some time for one of them to 
" wash her face." She painted it too, and put on 
pretty clothes. Our hostess entertained us with her 
little girl sitting in her lap. She was all broken out 
with smallpox. When I learned what the disease was 
I suggested that we should not ask people to come 
in and expose them to smallpox. But they were in 
the habit of going in and out. It was no use to try 
to make them take precautions at that late date, so we 
sat in the room with the smallpox patient and talked 
with the women. 

The next home was a poor one, but large enough so 
that fifty people crowded in after us. I drank tea 
out of a grimy cup, while people asked many questions, 
about my clothes, if my parents are living, how many 
children my mother has, what number among them I 
am, my age, if I ever comb my hair (when we think 
our hair is pretty and fluffy, they think it frowzy, and 
cannot believe that we have combed it), why there is 
gold in my teeth, how I keep my glasses on, and which 
is my honorable country. I informed them that my 

[89] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



unworthy country is the " Great Beautiful Land," its 
name in Chinese. Then Mrs. Shih explained what a 
long distance I have come to the Middle Kingdom to 
tell about the God who loves them and the Saviour 
who died for them. Then it was our turn to talk, and 
as their curiosity had been satisfied, they were ready 
to listen to the gospel story. Some of them had never 
heard of Jesus before. O Betsey, how glad I am to 
be here, and to be able to tell those who do not know, 
that no matter how unhappy their lot here, there are 
mansions in glory for those who will turn from their 
idolatry and sin, and trust Christ to save them ! Some 
of the poor old women said, " Your words are good, 
but our hearts are so dark." 

At two of the places we had to pass through tea- 
shops where men, wearing no upper garments, were 
sitting at the tables. One woman lives back of a shop 
where anchors are made. We picked our way in be- 
tween the piles of huge anchors blocking the front of 
the shop; The guest-room was a tiny windowless room 
with earth floor; no door shut it off from the shop, 
where several scantily clad men were working at the 
anvils and over the fires, beating the red-hot iron into 
shape. Some of them left their work and stood listen- 
ing to our conversation. A biddy hen flew squawking 
in from the kitchen, but we calmly sipped our tea 
and conversed with our hostess, who by the way is a 
well-to-do widow. Betsey, I love you heaps, and I 
wish you could have been with me. 

Jane. 

[90] 



XX 



Chi Kong Shan, July 15. 

My dear Betsey: We came up to the hills last 
Saturday. Before coming Genevieve and I had to go 
to Hankow to get passports. How would you describe 
me ? Most of it was easy, but when it came to my nose 
and mouth I was nonplused. Neither pug, Roman, 
nor Grecian would do for my nose, and I didn't want 
to admit that it was large. I have always maintained 
that my mouth was a rosebud, but I did not feel I 
could swear to that in the presence of the American 
consul. It took nearly an hour to unwind the red tape. 
Afterward we went to a curio-shop. As we were 
leaving the polite clerk asked in English, " Where do 
you reside?" I informed him, and fre bowed us out, 
saying, " Fare thee well." 

The river current is frightful at this time of year, 
so in spite of the scorching heat we walked home 
through the city. Such a smelly, sweltering stream 
of humanity as we encountered on the way. We had 
more than even the usual excitement in getting a boat 
to cross the Han River. The mouth of the Han is 
always almost blocked with sailboats and rowboats. 
Hundreds of families live on these boats under con- 
ditions which must be seen to be understood, cooking, 
eating, sleeping, washing, sewing, working, living in 

g [91 ] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the restricted confines of those small boats. Tell me, 
is such a life worth living? For every passenger who 
descends the broad flight of steps leading down to the 
river a dozen boatmen begin shouting and waving their 
hands, seeming to think that the more noise they 
make the more likely they are to win a passenger. 
Some leave their boats, and come and even take hold 
of our clothes, begging us to go with them. Throngs 
of coolies loading and unloading cargo pass up and 
down the steps to the incessant work songs, " He-ho-ah! 
He-ho-ah! He-ho-ah! Ho-ye-oo ai-ee-ha! Ho-ee-oo 
ai-ee-ha! " or more complicated ones, whose intricacies 
I cannot follow out for you. Wherever coolies are 
working we hear these weird shouts. A Chinese city 
seems less noisy than an American one, but instead of 
the clanging of bells, the din of traffic, and the rush 
and roar of cars and trains, here we have the sound of 
the human voice in a never-ceasing clamor and up- 
roar. After we got into a boat it was only by herculean 
efforts, pushing and pulling, that the boatmen were able 
to work their way out through the crush and jam of 
boats into the open river, where it was almost as dif- 
ficult to make any headway against the stupendous force 
of the current. Sometimes the men have no control 
of the boats, which are tossed about like egg-shells 
on the treacherous water. Hundreds of lives are lost 
every year. Few missionaries live long in Wu Han 
without having experiences which give them a whole- 
some dread of the Yangtze. 

We gave a Fourth-of-July party at our house. The 

[92] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



heat was so oppressive we could do nothing but sit 
and talk; even that was too great an exertion for com- 
fort. July in Hanyang is h-o-t, h-o-t-t-e-r, h-o-t- 
t-e-s-t. It gets too hot to eat, or sleep, or work, but I 
was able to keep my meetings going up to the last. The 
nights are even worse than the days. I would lie 
and fan the bed to get a bearably cool place to lie, and 
toss from side to side for hours. Sometimes when I 
had dropped asleep the heat would become so over- 
whelming that it would awaken me with the feeling 
that I was suffocating. Pittsburgh at its worst cannot 
compare with Hanyang for real genuine sizzling heat. 

Before school closed Shen Tai-Tai invited us to a 
feast. You remember, she is a Christian, and her 
home was so different from the other official homes I 
have been in. Instead of a crowd of men servants, we 
were waited upon by a pleasant-faced woman, and 
there was no crowd around watching us. You will 
think we are gormands when I tell you there were 
thirty-two courses. Here are a few of the delicacies 
we had : crabs, shrimps, chicken, ducks' feet, fried wal- 
nuts, birds' nests, dried meats, pressed meats, fish of 
many varieties, lotus seeds, chicken skin rolled in a 
kind of tiny scone, cucumbers with skins on, many 
kinds of green vegetables prepared in Chinese fashion, 
and almonds, melon seeds, etc., to munch on between 
courses. 

On our way to the feast we saw a man lying dead 
in the street. People were stepping around and over 
the body with scarcely a glance. They did not even 

[93] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



take the trouble to pass by on the other side, as did 
the priest and the Levite, and there had been no good 
Samaritan to minister to this man in his dying hour. 
Such sights are too common in China to excite much 
attention. When we returned several hours later the 
body was still lying in the same position. 

Coming up the mountain we passed through one of 
the old cities of refuge, built in the days of the Tai 
Ping Rebellion. There is nothing left now but the 
picturesque old stone wall skirting the top of the hill. 

Genevieve is so pernickety she objects to the Chinese- 
tailored appearance of dresses. She gave two to 1 the 
Hankow tailor, but when he brought them for fitting 
she repented, and took them away from him, conse- 
quently she is now making them by hand. Perhaps you 
think the Chinese women are immodest because they 
wear trousers instead of skirts. But their idea of 
modesty is quite different from ours. One of our 
friends, gave a dress to the tailor, explaining that she 
wanted tucks and insertion. He replied: "Yes, yes. 
I savey. Here b'long meat; here b'long tucks." No 
peek-a-boo or decollete waists for me in China. Once 
when Genevieve was out with a belted-in waist she 
heard people exclaiming : " Ai-ah ! See the foreigner 
with pieces cut out of her sides." They think it very 
immodest to show the form. In Hanyang I always 
wear a loose coat on the street. 

Affectionately, 

Jane. 



[94] 



XXI 



Hanyang, November 9. 

My very dear Betsey : I have a beau, and I must 
tell you about him. He is the cutest little three-year- 
old youngster that ever wore a Chinese cap and jacket, 
and he sits with me in church. He sat and made eyes 
at me all through meeting to-night. Genevieve sat 
farther back, and once he pointed back at her and then 
up at his own face, and said something I didn't under- 
stand. But the expression on his face said as plainly 
as words could: "Isn't she just the funniest-looking 
thing you ever saw ? " 

According to Chinese parlance, it is four-garments 
cold now, and that is cold enough to make me sigh for 
a comfortably heated American house. None of the 
chapels or schoolrooms in which I work are heated 
at all. It is like sitting down in a barn to teach. 

There were a lot of strangers in the women's meet- 
ing to-day. Outsiders always make more or less con- 
fusion. Almost at the close of the meeting some 
women came in, and one began talking out loudly, 
" We have come very late, K'eo Siao-tsieh " (that's 
my name and title, you understand), and making ex- 
planations, all in the midst of prayer-time. I was try- 
ing to pull her down beside me, whispering : " Don't 
talk words. Don't talk words. We are praying now ; 

[95] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



shut your eyes, and listen to them pray." She finally 
subsided, and kept quiet till the meeting closed. She 
had come to ask for admission to the school. We 
have had to refuse several women because of lack of 
room. It seems dreadful not to be able to take those 
who want to come. I am teaching two 1 days a week in 
the school, and Miss Thomas has the other three days. 
She has all the responsibility. 

When I went in before meeting the women were 
talking excitedly. I asked them what it was all about, 
and they told me of an old woman whom some of 
them had seen in a cage at the west gate. She has 
been there three days, suspended from the top of the 
cage. There is a support under her feet, which is being 
gradually lowered so that she will soon die. It seems 
a dreadful punishment, such a hard, lingering, igno- 
minious death. But the women seemed to think it was 
none too' severe for a woman who would receive kid- 
naped girls and sell them into lives of shame. O 
Betsey, this is a sad, sad old world. I never knew how 
sad until I came to China. This is not a happy place 
to be except for one thing. Christian workers are 
needed so much, and it is wonderful to be here where 
we can help to change conditions. I would not give it 
up for anything else in the wide world. China needs 
Christ, and I want to do my little part in making him 
known to those who need him. 

This afternoon I heard a big racket in the hall, but as 
the people went straight on up to the attic I thought 
Miss Thomas was having coolies carry something up. 

[96] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



At last I decided to investigate. What do you sup- 
pose it was? Three women and four children who 
had come to call. We have a door-bell, but most peo- 
ple do not understand about using it, so if the door 
is not locked they walk in and all through the house 
till they find some one. 

Yesterday Genevieve and I went to the hospital. 
On the street we met a woman who exclaimed, " Iang 
ren (Foreign person) ! " in a pleased, surprised way as 
if she had never seen one before. Then she looked 
straight at me and said with a broad smile, " Kih hao 
k'an (Very pretty)." I think there is something 
wrong with Genevieve's eyes, and she should get spec- 
tacles, for she thought the woman was looking at her. 

Your " very pretty " sister, 

Jane. 



[971 



XXII 



Hanyang, February i. 

Betsey mine : I have been sitting here by my dying 
fire thinking many, many thoughts. I have been back 
in Michigan when we were children and the first snows 
of winter came, and then in Rochester with Mrs. 
Brown, and have spent a night in Philadelphia with 
Anna, when we talked the old year out and the new 
year in. I have had you here with me, and thought 
what we would talk of if it could only be talking instead 
of writing. Then I wiped away a tear or two (I don't 
shed them as often as I used to) , and got out my paper 
to write to you. Thoughts in China are queer things. 
Here we think and speak in years and furloughs, in- 
stead of weeks and months. Thought flashes around 
the world and back quicker than you can say it. At 
home we say " next year," and it seems a long way 
off. Here we often speak of what we hope to do after 
our first furlough, or even our second. Yet always 
with me there is the wonder as to what the future 
will bring. For here, far more than at home, we are 
ready to confess that we are strangers and pilgrims on 
the earth, and our desire grows more and more toward 
" a better country; that is, an heavenly." 

It is Chinese New Year, and all the shops are closed 
for several days, so we had to lay in a supply of all the 

[98] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



needfuls. New Year's eve was stormy, and it thun- 
dered. The Chinese think this an ill omen for the 
year. The night before New Year is pandemonium let 
loose in a Chinese city. The people think that the evil 
spirits are all abroad that night. Buddhist and Taoist 
priests join with the people in beating gongs, setting off 
firecrackers, and making a racket to frighten the spirits 
away. People do not sleep; even small children are 
kept awake, for it would be inviting calamity if the 
whole family were not on guard. If a baby must sleep, 
it is given an ill-smelling vegetable to eat (the evil 
spirits dislike the odor, so are not likely to molest the 
child), and an abacus and other things are placed be- 
side the child to protect it. If these precautions were 
not taken there would be many deaths during the year. 
We have had a constant stream of callers, men, 
women, and children. New Year's Day was bright and 
sunny. Mrs, Tsao, the pastor's wife, called. She said : 
" Oh, that the light of God may this year shine upon 
China just as the sun shines to-day ! " Miss Jennings' 
teacher came wearing a mandarin hat. I scarcely rec- 
ognized him. He carried his large, red-paper calling- 
cards wrapped in a yellow silk handkerchief up his 
sleeve. The sleeves are so long it is easy for a China- 
man to "have something up his sleeve." Fifteen of 
the men of the church came together. Can you picture 
them with their queues ending in long black silk tassels, 
which almost swept the floor, black satin caps with 
new red buttons, each man dressed in the handsomest 
long gown he possessed, bowing and shaking his hands 

[99] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



instead of ours, and in polite phraseology offering con- 
gratulations and wishing us a happy New Year ? They 
did not intend to stay, but we assured them that we 
were prepared for them ; so they sat down in the guest- 
room, and we served tea and Chinese sweets. Pastor 
Tsao brought his little granddaughter, wearing a pretty 
new varicolored hood, the very latest style for children 
since the women are learning to knit and crochet. 
The poor old school coolie and his wee son came to 
make their bows. This coolie's wife is half crazy. 
The Chinese have a medicine which is sometimes given 
as a last resort when a person is almost dying. It 
sometimes saves the life, but invariably destroys the 
reason. This woman is feeble-minded as a result of 
taking this medicine, and is incapable of caring for her 
child or her home. The coolie has been working odd 
moments for days at the school, making the gaudy- 
colored garments which the little boy wore, and he 
was prpud as a peacock of him. 

Have you been reading about the riots in Hankow 
last week ? A police inspector on the Bund saw a rick- 
shaw coolie sitting in his rickshaw apparently very ill. 
He had him taken to police headquarters and called 
a doctor. Before they reached there the man died. 
A rumor got afloat that a sheik policeman, a foreigner 
you see, had kicked a coolie to death ; and a riot started, 
which lasted several hours. The British marines were 
called off the gunboats, which are always stationed 
there to protect the concession. A mob of infuriated 
Chinese had gathered on the border of the conces- 

[ ioo] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



sion, and were working their way in. The soldiers 
tried to hold them back without shooting at them, but 
could not, and several natives were killed. 

On this side all has been quiet. Guards of Chinese 
soldiers have been stationed through the city; one in 
front of our church stacked their rifles on the church 
steps. I went to the Shuang Kiai that Sunday as 
usual, taking one of the women of the church with 
me. People along the street said to Mrs. Siao : " Aren't 
you afraid to be out with a foreigner? Don't you 
know the Chinese and foreigners are killing each other 
in Hankow ? " One man shouted " Devil " at me as I 
passed. 

Living in China is somewhat like living on the edge 
of a volcano. Ever since I came there has been much 
talk of revolution or riots. I have become so accus- 
tomed to it that it does not worry me at all. A year 
ago I was more nervous. Anonymous letters were 
sent to Pastor Tsao, threatening to kill him and his 
sons if they did not stop preaching the gospel. At that 
time there was so much talk of riots that I packed a 
small bundle with a few necessities, and every night I 
placed it by my bed so if rioters should come I could 
take it with me in my flight. Lyde laughed long and 
loud, and my bundle was the family joke. It was only 
recently that I discovered that Lyde had packed her 
suit-case a week before I packed my bundle. Imagine 
fleeing from a mob with a suit-case! Riotous talk is 
the spice of life in China. Ever your loving 

Jane. 
[ ioi ] 



XXIII 



Hanyang, February 15. 

My dear Betsey : Mrs. Wan and Miss Li called last 
Wednesday and mentioned that they were going next 
day to Chin Keo, our nearest outstation, about twenty 
miles up the Yangtze. I said to Genevieve, " Wouldn't 
it be nice if we could go too ? " After that, of course, 
Mrs. Wan had to invite us. It was New Year's vaca- 
tion, so we were all free. There is a small steamboat 
which goes up, but does not always return the same 
day. In talking over plans, Mrs. Wan suggested that 
we borrow Wong Tai-Tai's launch. Naturally I did 
not feel like asking the loan of a launch, men to run 
it, anfl all the expense of a forty-mile trip. You should 
have heard Mrs. Wan talk ! " Why, Wong Tai-Tai 
has been your pupil. Both of you have taught her. 
Why shouldn't the teacher ask any favor of her pupil ? 
Of course she will be delighted to lend it to you." We 
explained that according to our custom we would not 
" have the face " to ask such a big favor of any one. 
And she replied, " You seem to think this is an im- 
portant affair." It ended in Mrs. Wan asking Wong 
Tai-Tai to lend her the launch, and inviting her to go 
with us. You see, it was Mrs. Wan's party. 

Eight of us went. The others came to our place 

[ 102] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



to wait for the coming of the foreign fire-boat. We 
went down and were rowed out to it. Wong Tai-Tai, 
dainty as always in her satins, furs, and jewelry, re- 
ceived us in the tiny saloon and served tea and cakes., 
Mrs. Wan was delighted that Wong Tai-Tai could 
accept the invitation to go with us, and full of regret 
that she had not thought to include her little daughter 
in the invitation. 

Near Chin Keo the scenery became very pretty. On 
one side was a high hill, on top of which is a temple 
to which people go on pilgrimages. In the middle of 
the river lay a flat sand island, where the white sand 
was blown into a cloud by the wind. On the Chin Keo 
side was a pretty hill crowned with one of the pic- 
turesque tea-houses which abound in China. The foot 
of the hill is buttressed with a stone wall many feet 
high, at the top of which is a wide stone-paved road 
several rods in length, circling the hill. Boats cut in 
halves were conspicuously placed on the hilltop. They 
had belonged to pirates, and had been confiscated and 
put up in this way as- a warning to others. 

We created a sensation in landing, and a crowd fol- 
lowed us up to the chapel. Some boys went in with 
us. Mrs. Wan talked to them, and I gave out some 
Scripture leaflets I had taken. The little rascals were 
just as bad as Americans ; told us that they attended the 
mission school, and several other things which sounded 
well but had no truth in them. 

Mrs. Seng, the evangelist's wife, was not expecting 
us, but she greeted us cordially, and served tea, which 

[ 103] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



we drank with the multitude looking on. Mrs. Wan 
had been thoughtful enough to provide something to 
eat, so we each had a bowl of parched rice in hot water. 

In the afternoon we went for a long walk through 
the open fields back of the town, and along a wide 
country road, which we thought might be a " horse 
road," but Mrs. Seng said there were no horses in 
that part of the country. 

As we left the more traveled road for a narrow 
pathway leading up the hill we saw violets which had 
braved the winter's cold and were blooming by the 
wayside. I stooped and plucked one and attempted 
to inhale its fragrance, but, alas! it had none; even 
while my eye marked the beauty of its form and color 
the wind, which was now blowing a hurricane, snatched 
it from my grasp and cast it upon the earth. On, on 
we toiled up the winding path and a wearisome flight 
of stone steps. On either hand the plumelike bamboo 
trees were swaying and bowing in the wind. As we 
neared the tea-house the deep intonations of clanging 
bells fell upon our ears. They came from bells sus- 
pended from the ornamental tile roof of the tea-house. 
As the wind swept them into musical (?) chimes they 
were a pleasant reminder of the tones of cow-bells 
as the kine return from pasture at the sunset hour. 
The caretaker greeted us with the Oriental salutation, 
" Peace," and bade us enter. We passed up a ladder- 
like stairway of Chinese construction, with difficulty 
maintaining our equilibrium, into an unattractive upper 
room. A weird and spooky light penetrated the crude 

[104] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



shutters, which creaked and rattled in the moaning 
wind. Table and chairs were laden with dust. We 
hesitated to remain long in this eery spot. Betsey, 
you never knew I could be so poetical (?), did you? 
It really is too great a strain, so I'll return to my 
natural style. 

After a look over the town and surrounding coun- 
try we started home. All the way we had been fol- 
lowed by twenty or more boys. They were joined by 
two more from the tea-house. One was a pudgy little 
chap in a soldier cap, tied on with a bright pink string, 
a short red jacket, long wadded gown of coarse blue 
printed cotton, with several gowns of various other 
colors showing beneath, wadded green cotton trousers 
bound in tightly at the ankles, and shoes not unlike 
those the Hollanders wear. We went into a Buddhist 
temple, then walked along the promenade, of which 
I told you. The river was so rough we began to fear 
we might not be able to make the return trip that 
day. On our return to the house it was decided to 
let the men bring the launch home, and send a larger 
boat for us to come by moonlight. But when the 
attempt was made they found the little boat could 
not " eat the waves," so there was nothing to do but 
settle down for the night. 

Some ladies came to call on us, and invited us to 
go to their home. They served tea and sweets. One 
had studied, and told us she knew English. We asked 
her to talk English with us, and she did — the only 
word she knew. She held up a cup and said, " cu-up," 

[105] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



and we complimented her on her clear pronunciation. 
Mrs. Wan and Mrs. Seng made the most of the op- 
portunity to tell the ladies about Christianity. 

It was dark when we returned, and we found a nice 
Chinese meal waiting for us. I never can become 
accustomed to throwing the bones and scraps under the 
table for the dogs to eat. The chapel is the front of 
a Chinese house, and the Sengs live in the back. It 
was the regular prayer-meeting night. I asked one 
young girl if she attended school. She said no, 
she would like to, but there is no school for girls in 
that city. After the meeting we talked a long time 
with the women, and I promised to go up for a week 
in the summer after the Women's Bible School closes. 

The Sengs had only one extra bed. They took down 
the doors and laid them across benches, and some 
of the neighbors lent bedding to help cover us. We 
climbed the ladder to the unfinished attic, and the 
eight of us slept in two beds in the one room. Gene- 
vieve' and I kept on our heavy sweaters and long coats, 
and then were freezing cold. Barking dogs and street 
noises kept us awake most of the night. We rose at 
dawn and started home before breakfast. It was 
nearly noon when we reached here. The pleasantest 
part of any outing in China is the getting home again. 
Just to think of sitting in a comfortable chair in front 
of a fire once more. We could not live as the 
Chinese do. 

Doctor Lessey and Miss Thomas have gone on fur- 
lough ; the Howells plan to go next month ; Lyde has 

[106] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



gone to the hospital compound to live; so Genevieve 
and I are left alone in the Ladies' House. We dis- 
missed Hu Si-fu, and have made Pao Chen cook. Al- 
ready he does better than Hu Si-fu did. We hire an 
outside coolie to carry water from the river, so have 
only two servants now. 

Lovingly, 

Jane. 



[107] 



XXIV 



Hanyang, March 23. 

Dearest Betsey: Why don't you write? It's an 
age since I've heard from you. Et tu Brute, forget- 
ting me ? I need your letters to help keep me straight. 
I wish there were such a thing as long-distance telepa- 
thy. Don't you? Letters are so unsatisfactory when 
they cannot be supplemented with an occasional visit. 
It is two and a half years since I left home, and oh, 
sometimes the years seem wearily long. 

There are fifteen women in the Bible school this 
term, and ten others who come for daily classes here 
and at the Shuang Kiai, where the school is. It is 
very hard to have the school so far away, but we have 
the rooms there and none here, so there is no help 
for it. I go down every day. When I reached there 
this morning everybody was doing just what they 
should so early in the morning. The boys' school was 
having a drill in the outer court, the girls were study- 
ing at the top of their voices as (they think) they 
should, and the women had settled nicely at their 
studies. 

In the school we have an old lady sixty-two years 
old, who is starting to learn to read. She is so proud 
to be able to read two hymns. Another woman used to 
be a nun in a Taoist temple. Now she is a church- 

[108] 




THE WOMEN OF THE BIBLE SCHOOL 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



member, and is apparently living a sincere Christian 
life. One young woman who entered this term studied 
for a week and had not learned a dozen characters. 
She began to think she was too stupid ever to learn. 
Suddenly she took a start, and now she is one of 
our brightest students, and is leading her class. It 
doesn't pay to be too easily discouraged with women 
who have never had a chance to study. 

I was home for tiffin at twelve, spent a half-hour 
preparing my talk for the afternoon meeting, then went 
in a chair to 1 Chih Li Miao, a little town three miles 
from here, where I go every week to our chapel for 
the women's meeting. Faithful old Lui Ta Peo went 
in the morning, and had been calling, and inviting 
the women of the neighborhood to come to the meet- 
ing. She has a class before the meeting to teach the 
women to read the hymns. She herself was over 
forty before she could read a word. She lived in a 
mat-shed just outside our compound. When our mis- 
sionaries first came here sixteen years ago they used 
to see her out in front of her door combing her big 
black pig with her own coarse-toothed wooden comb. 
They asked her to come to church ; but for a long time 
she did not dare. She was afraid the evil spirits would 
punish her if she " ate the foreign doctrine." But 
after a time she ventured into the meeting, became 
interested, and continued to come. She was con- 
verted, and during these last years I suppose many 
hundreds of women have heard the way of salvation 
from Lui Ta Peo for the first time. She goes stump- 

[109] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



ing around on her little bound feet, all over Hanyang 
and for miles out into the country, telling the gospel 
story and of what God has done for her. She has 
been one of Miss Thomas' Bible-women and is now one 
of my helpers. 

I have weekly meetings in each of the four chapels, 
so it keeps me busy with all the preparation and teach- 
ing I have to do. There are many problems and per- 
plexities. It is not easy to work in a strange language 
which is still only half-won for the expression of Chris- 
tian truth, and with people of such strange customs. I 
often wonder if I shall ever again have that self-com- 
placent feeling of knowing I have done just the proper 
thing, and have no doubt as to what I should do next. 
I have concluded that the most necessary thing for a 
missionary is a deep spirituality. A person with a 
college education, a pleasing personality, and a mild 
form of goodness may accomplish much in America, 
but if that is all one has to bring to China, he (or she) 
might better stay at home. I am trying to "make 
good." 

Yours, 

Jane. 



[no] 



XXV 



Hanyang, April i. 

My dear Betsey : I have been celebrating April 
Fool's Day for Genevieve's benefit, and have made her 
feel like one several times. I did not go down to 
breakfast, rapped on the floor, and then when she did 
not come quickly enough, rapped again and called. 
Then she rushed up and found me with my face buried 
in the pillow. I gasped, " I thought you would never 
come " in a most pathetic tone. She said, " Oh, what 
is the matter ? " and began rubbing my forehead. 
Then I threw off the bedclothes, and showed her I was 
dressed. I got a good pommeling, but I didn't mind 
that. t 

Last night we went over to Lyde's for supper. She 
told us of some of the cases in the hospital. Several 
months ago one man tried to kill another. He slashed 
him up badly with a knife, then ran away. The 
wounded man was taken to our hospital, and re- 
covered. But some one must be punished; as the 
criminal could not be found, his wife was seized and 
put in prison, and has been there ever since. She has 
slept on the cold, wet, mud floor in an indescribably 
filthy room with no conveniences for cleanliness or 
decency. Her sufferings must have been inconceivable. 
Two days ago she was brought to the hospital, and 

[in] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



gave birth to a still-born baby. She is so sore from 
the crown of her head to the tip of her toes one 
can scarcely touch her without her almost shrieking 
with pain. Lyde said she has seen so much suffering 
that she is not easily overcome, but this case was 
almost too much for her, to hear of what the woman 
has endured while in the prison. When she came into 
the hospital she did not seem to think it possible that 
any one would treat her kindly. 

Another is a woman who with her "husband had been 
living in a mat-shed some distance from here during 
the winter. They were returning to the country for 
the summer. The woman walked thirteen miles on 
Wednesday, ten on Thursday, and I do not know how 
far on Friday. They had almost reached the river- 
bank, where they were to take a boat for the remainder 
of the journey, when the woman was taken sick, and 
her baby was born in the street. The man went on and 
tried to get a boat, but the news had preceded him, and 
no boarman would allow the mother of a new-born 
baby in his boat. It was the same with the sedan- 
chair men, and no householder would allow his house 
to be contaminated by her presence. They knew that 
without asking, and were at their wit's end to know 
what to do. Mrs. Lan heard of it and sent a note 
over to Lyde to ask if they could take the woman. The 
women's ward was full, but this was a case which 
could not be refused. They put two in one bed, and 
sent a stretcher for her. She has a cunning little baby, 
all bound up in a stiff blanket like the Italians do theirs. 

[112] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



I do not tell you much about the darker side of life 
here, but every day brings problems which I do not 
know how to solve. Eternal vigilance is the price 
of success in school work in China, and I must be as 
vigilant with my women as Genevieve is with her girls. 
I have told you something of our environment, but 
you cannot know the depressing effect of living in 
it for week after week and month after month. The 
climate is physically enervating, with never a clear, 
bracing atmosphere that makes one feel invigorated 
and like doing things. And the moral atmosphere 
is equally enervating. So, Betsey mine, send along 
doses of good cheer in good, long, frequent letters to 
your 

Jane. 



[113] 



XXVI 



Hanyang, June 15. 

My dear Betsey : I don't know whether I can write 
with the mosquitoes buzzing around or not, but I shall 
make the attempt. 

The Bible school has closed, the women have all 
returned to their homes, and I have been up to Chin 
Keo to spend a week. Genevieve went with me for 
two days. The boat was scheduled to leave at eight 
o'clock. We were up at five-thirty, but made our prep- 
arations very leisurely, and started out at seven, think- 
ing we had plenty of time to get down to the Han, 
where we were to take the foreign fire-boat. The 
rain started at the same time we did. When we got 
to where the boat should have been it wasn't there, nor 
was the other boat which goes up river. I asked the 
boatman : " This is what meaning ? They said the 
boats leave at eight. It is not yet half past seven and 
both boats are gone ? " 

The man calmly explained that eight o'clock is the 
hour, but sometimes the boat goes earlier, sometimes 
later. "Kong-pa kin-t'ien loh-fien tsong K'ai-liao (Per- 
haps it started at six this morning)." They said there 
was another boat that comes down the Han ; perhaps 
we could get on that. It appeared just then. Pao Chen 
and the two boatmen began shouting, " Iang clnian 

[114] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



ah! Iang chuan ah! (Foreign boat, ah!)" But the 
boat steamed on. Either the captain did not hear or 
did not heed. There was still another boat. We told 
them to row up to the starting-place. They said no, 
we could hail it as it passed. Genevieve said em- 
phatically : " You don't know anything. A foreign 
boat will not stop for us. Hear my words! (Obey 
me.)" But the men still remained calm. If we missed 
our boat they would get an extra fare for taking us 
back to Hanyang. The boat had already started ; they 
got in its way and shouted again, this time with better 
success. It was a case of " O Mr. Captain, stop your 
ship. I want to get on and ride." And Mr. Captain 
stopped his ship while we got on with our two cot- 
beds, steamer-chair, and pigskin boxes containing food, 
clothing, bedding, wash-basin, and all the necessities 
for several days' stay. 

Mrs. Tseo, the Bible-woman who was going with 
me, had been down for the earlier boat. As I did not 
appear she went home, but went up the next day. 

We slept in the same attic room we were in when 
we went in the winter, hanging blankets across one 
end in the interest of privacy. We had our chafing- 
dish, and prepared our own breakfast and lunch, and 
ate the evening meal with the family. 

It rained nearly every day, but the women came, 
thirty or forty of them, with even greater regularity. 
In a crowd of outsiders there are usually as many or 
more children than women, and such confusion results 
you wonder how they can receive any benefit. With 

[115] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the exception of two of the women of the church and 
two or three inquirers, none of the women could read 
a word. But nearly always when a woman is con- 
verted she at once wants to study so that she may 
understand the doctrine better. 

I went out calling some. One day when it cleared 
I went out into the country. The people were very 
friendly, but I must have seemed a strange sight to 
them, for one little child shrieked with fright at see- 
ing me in my white suit and hat. One of the houses we 
went to was a sod house. The living-room was small, 
and half-filled with a hand-loom, the only other pieces 
of furniture being a table and two or three narrow 
benches. The wall was just the rough blocks of earth. 
There was not a semblance of comfort or beauty. 
What would you think of living in such a place? 

I have fifty-leven dozen fresh mosquito bites. Good- 
night. 

Jane. 



[116] 



XXVII 



Chi Kong Shan, August 12. 

Dear Betsey: I am having the most vacant vaca- 
tion I have ever had in China. The other summers I 
studied hard all the time at the hills. This summer 
both Genevieve and I are so exhausted by the year's 
work it is one of our jokes to lift one finger and sigh, 
" I am so tired." We stayed in Hanyang till the 
middle of July. 

We are alone here in a wee cottage, with Pao Chen 
to do the work. What do you guess we had for tiffin 
a few minutes ago ? A most delicious raspberry short- 
cake. We both had to admit that neither Genevieve's 
mother, nor my mother, nor I could surpass it. What 
more could be said ? We get wild berries here, the first 
we have had in China, and cook them. Pao Chen is 
an excellent cook now, and I do not think he ever 
uses his wash-basin to cook in any more. To be sure, 
he did use the dish-pan for a bath-tub the day before 
we came up here. But his basin was packed and sent 
away in his box, so that was an exceptional case. 

I have been busy getting my correspondence up to 
date. Can you imagine how tiresome it has been, wri- 
ting the same things over and over to people in Burma 
and Brooklyn, Idaho and India, Philadelphia, Pitts- 
burgh, New York, and Boston? I do not write dif- 

[117] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



ferent things, as that would require more gray matter? 
than to grind out the same repeatedly. 

Centipedes are our greatest excitement here. Ugh, 
but they are ugly things ! This cottage is poorly built, 
and we are overrun with all sorts of crawlers of the 
centipede family, and have killed two genuine six-inch 
centipedes. I am glad they are not one of the Hanyang 
pests. I fear, hate, loathe, detest, despise them. 

Many of the missionaries here are from interior 
stations, and have had wonderful experiences. Some 
are several weeks' journey from any other foreigners. 
They come to the summer resort once in two or three 
years. At other times they do not see any one out- 
side their station for months at a time. I like to get 
them to telling stories of their work. One of our 
friends was telling last evening about a country trip 
she had taken. One night she was in a meeting, and 
stood singing the doxology while poking with her 
umbrella to keep the pigs away from her feet. 

Chi Kong Shan is divided into two sections — the 
Business Valley and the Missionary Valley. The 
laundryman in the Missionary Valley recently hung 
out his sign, "Religious wash-pot." Does it remind j 
you of Moab ? 

Betsey, I want you to promise to love me just the 
same if I am not handsome when I go home on fur- 
lough. I give you fair warning, my hair is falling 
out, and my skin fits like a baked apple's and is nearly 
the same color. I sure am not " as young as I ust to 
be," but I love you the same as ever. Jane 

[118] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Later. I have been up on the ridge to watch the sun- 
set. It was magnificent, the entire sky lighted up with 
brilliantly colored clouds, with rose, blue, and violet 
rays extending in fan shape from both the eastern and 
the western horizon to the zenith. I have never seen 
more beautiful sunsets than we sometimes have here. 
If only the weather were better and there were no 
centipedes, it would be delightful here. It has been 
rainy and misty most of the time. It is so damp that 
sometimes our clothes mildew while we are wearing 
them. 



[119] 



XXVIII 



Hanyang, September 3. 

Betsey : If you could only have seen the wild dis- 
order in which we found our house on our return from 
the hills! Every cupboard, box, drawer, and trunk 
except those in the attic had been opened. Some had 
been chopped open with a hatchet, making a wreck 
of the furniture. The floors were littered with scraps 
of cloth, burnt matches, and cigarette stumps. Tinned 
beans and moldy currants were scattered about my bed- 
room. My gentleman robber had filled my student- 
lamp with oil from the dining-room lamp and drawn 
an easy chair up by my table to read. He had also 
uncovered my mattress and reposed on my bed. Every- 
thing we possessed had been taken from its proper place 
and things carried from one room to another, clean 
clothes soiled, and soap left out for the rats to eat. 
Genevieve's gold watch and other things innumerable 
had been stolen. The contents of every envelope had 
been examined, and books taken from the cases and 
replaced upside down. But the strangest thing was the 
selection which had been made. Valuable things had 
been left, and trifles taken from the same box or 
drawer. It must have taken weeks to upset the house 
so completely. Mr. Robber had done so many abso- 
lutely crazy stunts we were sure he must have been 

[120] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



a crazy man. It was late in the evening when we 
reached here, so we could make no investigation that 
night. Everything was so weird and spooky I was 
almost afraid to get into bed, even after looking under 
it for a man, and Genevieve came in after the lights 
were out to ask me to leave my door open. 

It was not until the afternoon of the next day 
that the mystery was solved. Pastor Tsao came and 
explained that the son of one of the church-members 
had broken into the house two weeks previously. He 
is a kleptomaniac, and has been forbidden to come to 
the compound, but while we were away the rule was 
not enforced, and he had succeeded in breaking in 
without detection, and had come and gone as- he 
pleased. At last his mother found out what was go- 
ing on, and she told Pastor Tsao the day before we 
came. 

Pastor Tsao told us the poor old mother was heart- 
broken, and we went to see her. She could hardly be 
persuaded to come out to see us, and when she did 
she fell on her face before us, knocking the floor with 
her head and beating it with her hands. We had 
difficulty in getting her up. Then she talked in the 
wildest way, of what a sinner she must be to have 
such a son, and of his terrible sin. She said, as long 
as he was alive and could harm people her heart 
would never be at peace. We soothed her as well as 
we could, and proposed sending the boy to the insane 
asylum in Canton. There is no asylum anywhere near 
here. 



[121] 



LETTERS TO BET5EY 



Later on we learned that the mother had decreed 
before we arrived that her son should be drowned. 
It is customary here if the parents do not wish to give 
a criminal son over to the courts to be (un) justly dealt 
with, they may put him to death without reporting 
the case. A father who causes his own son to be 
put to death for committing a crime is extolled for 
his virtue. This poor old woman had once told a 
sister whose son had stolen that if her son should 
do such a deed she would have him put to death. Now 
she felt that this was like a vow, and if she did not 
do so it would be perjury, and people would all look 
upon her as one who upheld her son in wrong-doing. 
That evening a meeting was held in the church, and 
then the elders and deacons went with us to the home. 
At first some thought that the boy should be given 
over to the authorities, which would be an awful fate. 
But the old mother was brought out, and when they 
saw the ravages which suffering had made upon her 
face tbey became very lenient in their attitude. You 
know, 

To be wroth with one we love 
Doth work like madness in the brain. 

And the old woman was nearly crazed with grief, 
which was in some measure due to her determina- 
tion to have her boy drowned. We all united in plead- 
ing that she spare his life. And Genevieve and I 
promised to send him to the asylum if he could be 
received there. 

The woman insisted that she must set a good ex- 

[ 122] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



ample to others. It was hard for her to believe that to 
have her son thrown into the river would not be setting 
a good example. We told her if she did that her sin 
would be much greater than her son's. At last she 
knelt down and prayed, and then she promised that 
she would not have him killed. One of the women 
said to us afterward : " It is very well that you returned 
when you did. If you had been a day later Chuin Nien 
would be dead to-night." It is hard for us to' realize 
that such a thing could be, that a Christian could be 
so mistaken in her duty. But never a day passes here 
that we are not reminded that we are in the Orient. 
People are thinking along the same grooves that the 
people of Palestine thought three thousand years ago, 
when Jephthah made his rash vow. 

The flood this year is the worst I have seen. I won- 
der how the people are to survive the winter. Coming 
down on the train we saw whole towns flooded, so 
the people had deserted their homes. Much of Hanyang 
is under water. People are living on boards placed 
on benches or on scaffolds, in their miserable little 
hovels. By going in boats or walking trestles made of 
poles I can get to all the chapels for the weekly women's 
meetings. If you want adventures, come to China. 
Walking trestles made of slippery round poles, several 
feet above the water, which is two or three feet deep 
in the street, is quite as thrilling as some of the amuse- 
ments pleasure-mad Americans indulge in at Coney 
Island. With love, 

Jane, 
i [ 123 ] 



XXIX 



Kia-Yu, September 18. 

Dear Betsey : Do you remember the old carpenter 
of whom I wrote at the first wedding-feast I went to 
in Hanyang ? He has been the evangelist here in Kia- 
Yu for the last two years. Last week he was down in 
Hanyang, and I took the opportunity to come with him 
up to Kia-Yu. I have also told you of Lui Ta-Peo. 
She is a wizened little old woman, with a face which 
used to make me think of a monkey, thin gray hair 
and a coil of black cloth at the back, and the truest, 
kindest heart that ever beat. 

We started with bag and baggage early Saturday 
morning. Remembering my experience missing the 
boat going to Chin Keo, we went at six o'clock to get 
the eight o'clock boat, then had to wait till nine before 
the boat started. It was a dull leaden morning, and 
the river was very choppy, so much so that my cot 
went overboard, but the men caught it. When we 
reached the steamboat Mr. Uh wished to put me in 
" The Ladies' Saloon " ; nothing less than capitals 
would do justice to it. But I refused to stay put. It 
was a four-by-five cubby-hole with the foulest air, and 
was occupied by an old woman who looked like a beg- 
gar. Chinese beggars do not look like American ones, 
you know. I boldly stayed out in the open air with 

[124] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the men. There is a decent cabin below, but the price 
is such that it usually precludes missionaries from 
using it. The roof of the cabin is fitted up with narrow 
benches a foot high, ort which the passengers sit. The 
space between the floor and the roof of this " upper 
deck " is about four feet, so one cannot stand upright; 
not a very comfortable arrangement for an all day's 
journey. Not only that, but it rained, and the rain 
beat in upon us. The roof leaked, and we had to 
choose our position with care to keep out of the wet 
spots. It grew colder. To keep away from the crowds 
of men I stayed in the back part of the boat, with 
flat baskets of fish and vegetables around me, and near 
the open kitchen, where I got the full benefit of the 
strong smells of Chinese cookery. I could not sit 
hunched up on one of those low benches all day; so I 
sat on the floor with my feet hanging over into 1 the 
passageway, and pulled them up when any one wanted 
to go by. 

It was dark when we reached Kia-Yu. We were 
chilled through, and wanted to hurry up to the chapel. 
Mr. Uh told us to sit still a few moments, and he 
would get some coolies to carry our baggage. There 
was much confusion and shouting as the passengers 
disembarked. At the end of a half-hour every one had 
gone, and with them the lanterns which had given us 
light. Mr. Uh came back to say he could engage no 
coolies, and must go home and get his son and the 
chapel coolie to come for us. 

Lui Ta-Peo was almost having a chill. We piled her 

[125] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



bedding on top of my box to form a windbreak, then 
sat flat on the floor while we waited there another hour 
in the dark. At last a small boy appeared and spoke 
to Lui Ta-Peo. She exclaimed, " Ai-ah, it's seven ! " 
Sure enough, it was Uh Sien-Sieng's seventh son. But 
he explained that now he goes to school, and is called 
by the more dignified title " The Seventh." A larger 
son, Mr. Uh, and the coolie soon came with a Chinese 
lantern, the light in which promptly blew out. We 
got off thinking all were ready to start, but it was 
some time before they got the baggage arranged. 
Lui Ta-Peo tied a bath-towel around her head, and 
there we stood on the bank shivering in the wind. 
At last all were ready. The coolie went first, carrying 
my cot, my pigskin box, and Lui Ta-Peo's bundle of 
bedding on a carrying-pole over his shoulder. Then 
came Mr. Uh's sixth son with Lui Ta-Peo's suit-case, 
which by the way, was made out of a Standard Oil tin. 
Then followed The Seventh with Mr. Uh's hand-bag. 
Mr. T£h, with his flickering lantern, and Lui Ta-Peo 
and I brought up the rear, trying to walk side by side, 
but not always able to, on the narrow, muddy, slip- 
pery paths. Three or four times the light blew out, 
and we had to stop in dingy, dimly lighted little shops 
or houses to beg a light. Nowhere did they have 
matches, but used twisted paper lighters. Note : Next 
time I go on a trip be sure to carry matches in my 
hand-bag. 

At last, when I thought we must be almost at our 
destination, Mr. Uh said, "We must take the boat 

[126] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



here." Everything beyond the faint glimmer of the 
lantern was very dark. We scrambled down the bank 
into a boat we couldn't see, and were rowed across a 
pond, after which we took up our line of march again, 
and another long walk through the dark back streets 
brought us to the back gate of the mission compound. 
Mr. Uh knew that if we went where people could see 
me a crowd would gather. 

We received a hearty welcome from Mrs. Uh and 
the married daughter. They put on the kettle to boil, 
and made us a cup of tea. They wished to prepare 
supper for me as well as the others, but I preferred hot 
condensed milk. 

It took only a few minutes for me to< hang my cur- 
tain across one end of an unused back room, and put 
up my mosquito-net and my cot. I knew I couldn't 
sleep a wink if I did not have that net. Betsey, I never 
saw or dreamed of such spiders as I am living with 
here. There are several species ; hard, black, hairy ones, 
wuzzy gray ones, and squashy yellow ones. Some of 
them I am sure measure five inches from tip to' tip of 
their long legs. You need not doubt my veracity, for I 
have just been standing by the wall computing the 
distance of the longest. I'd almost as soon think of 
killing a toad as one of them. I asked Mrs. Uh if they 
are not dangerous, and she says not. Happily they do 
seem lethargic. 

Suggestions as to getting settled may not come amiss 
in case you should ever come to China and go on out- 
station trips. I brought everything I need with me: 

[127] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



bed, bedding, dishes, wash-basin, food, books, spirit- 
lamp, cooking utensils, even the twine, nails, and large 
safety-pins to hang my net and curtains. Take your 
net even in winter to protect you from rats, and if you 
desire semiprivacy don't forget curtains to hang across 
one end or corner of the room. One table I use for 
pantry, dining-room, and kitchen. A small ts'ah-tsieh 
(tea-table) is my library. A chair for my wash-basin, 
and my clothes are tight shut in my box. Of course 
all my food is in tin boxes. 

I was soon settled, and was drinking hot milk and 
marveling at the spiders when some one came to say it 
was prayer-meeting night, and would we come ? This 
was at ten o'clock! Mr. Uh had not been there for 
the regular hour, but now he had come they must have 
their meeting. Lui Ta-Peo said, " I will go, you are 
tired. Stay and go to bed." I felt this would not 
be the part of a good missionary, so I went out. But 
the meeting had not assembled, and my head felt so 
dizzy I decided that discretion was the better part of 
valor, and I retired. Lucky I did. Mr. Uh has an 
accordion, which he works like a bellows with all the 
stops constantly pressed down. No one there had the 
faintest idea of time or tune. The music beat anything 
I had ever heard before, even in China, and that is 
saying a great deal. My gravity is not easily upset 
in meeting, but I was glad no one saw me when I 
heard Kia-Yu music for the first time. 

Early Sunday morning people began coming to 
church. Most of the church-members are scattered 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



through the country. Some come five miles, and now 
that the country is under flood, have to come in row- 
boats. None had heard that I was to be here, but 
forty or fifty came. A number were old people, who 
came in leaning on their long staves with grotesquely 
carved heads. 

One old woman, who came early, I was told had 
come several miles. I said, " You must have started 
very early." She replied: "I count the days of the 
week till Sunday comes. All I think of that day is to 
get up early and come to church. It is all I can do, 
I cannot read or explain the doctrine, but I come to 
church every Sunday and worship God." 

As they came in the men were seated in the guest- 
room, and the women in the bedroom to drink tea. 
When I went in Mrs. Uh picked up a cup that some 
one else had been drinking from, threw the cold tea 
on the cement floor, took a grimy wash-cloth (the on© 
the family use for bathing) from its peg on the wall, 
and wiped the cup with it, poured tea into the cup, and 
gave it to me. If I had been calling I should have 
drunk the tea. As I am staying here, I was so busy 
talking with the women I forgot to drink it. The 
women are delighted to have me here. I wish you 
could be here for one meeting. The women sat on one 
side and the men on the other. A big black pig wan 
dered in and out at its own sweet will, disturbing no 
one but me. Mr. Uh played his accordion, and the 
schoolboys sang lustily. It wasn't musical, but the peo- 
ple's hearts were in accord with the spirit of praise, 

[129] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



even if their voices were not in harmony. Mr. Uh 
asked me to speak in the church service, and for the 
first time since I came to China I spoke to a mixed 
Chinese audience. The women remained for a meet- 
ing. Lui Ta-Peo, Mr. Uh, one of the church women, 
and I took turns talking until we were tired, and still 
the women lingered to talk with us after the meeting. 
One told me how her husband curses and beats her 
when she comes to the chapel. When I quoted the Ser- 
mon on the Mount to her she said, " They are good 
words." 

At the evening meeting the chapel was crowded. 
Many came simply out of curiosity, to see a foreign 
woman for the first time. But Mr. Uh gave them a 
good sermon. Of course, as every sermon to out- 
siders must be, it was on the fundamental doctrines 
of Christianity. He said : " When you go down to 
Hankow you always want to take the foreign fire- 
boat. You can go and come in two days in that, while 
it takes several weeks to go in the native boat. When 
a young man wishes to be excessively stylish he buys 
a foreign hat and shoes, and puts on foreign clothes, 
and struts around thinking he is some great person. 
Look at these foreign lamps, in which we use foreign 
oil. Do they not give a good light? Are they not 
better than our Chinese lamps? Everybody likes to 
use foreign things. Then why is it you look with con- 
tempt upon one who eats the foreign doctrine? What 
you call the foreign doctrine is as much better than 
the Chinese doctrines — Buddhism, Taoism, and Con- 

[ 130] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



fucianism — as these other foreign things are better 
than our things." Then he went on to tell them that 
Christianity is not a Western religion, that Jesus was 
born in Asia, not far from their own country. With 
description of Christ as a personal Saviour he made 
his final appeal. 

Mrs. Pen has come to ask me to go for a walk, 
so I must leave you for the present. I have had many 
interruptions. We go home to-morrow, as I must be 
there to prepare for the opening of the women's 
school. I have had a feast and two meetings already 
to-day. Crowds of women have been here. There is 
so much to do, and so little time in which to do it. 

Yours, 

Jane. 



[131] 



XXX 



Hankow, October 12. 

Betsey dearest: How can I tell you of all the 
dreadful happenings of these last few days? I am 
sending a cable which will assure you, weeks before 
this can reach you, of my safety. I do hope that the 
newspaper accounts have not made you too anxious. 

To begin at the beginning: One evening last 
week I was sitting up-stairs writing when there came 
a banging at the back door and calls for the cook. 
I poked my head out of the window and inquired, 
" Is what affair? " It was a servant with a letter from 
the father of one of the schoolgirls. He is an official, 
and wrote that he did not wish to be the bearer of 
alarming news, but he thought we should know that 
there were rumors of a rebellion to start in Wu Chang 
the next day. 

Several days passed, and no outbreak. It was re- 
ported that all the gentry had left Wu Chang, the city 
gates were guarded, and everybody was subject to 
search. As the days passed we thought this rumor 
had no more foundation than the many, many others 
that had gone before. I have known that it would 
worry you more than it did me, so I have not told you 
much about the constant talk of riot and revolution 
to which we have been treated. The week I reached 



[132] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Hanyang the emperor and empress-dowager died. 
Many people expected the war then, and it has been 
talked of ever since. Last spring for weeks the women 
were alarmed and anxious, and I had constantly to re- 
assure them. We really were so hardened to talk 
of riot and war that it made little impression. It was 
a case of the cry of "Wolf! Wolf!" — and then the 
wolf came when we least expected it. 

Last Tuesday's daily paper told of the explosion of 
a bomb in Hankow, and the consequent discovery 
of revolutionary paraphernalia. Wednesday morning 
Mrs. Gage came in to beg me not to go to the Shuang 
Kiai that day ; Wu Chang had been taken by the Revo- 
lutionists, the yamen burned, and the Manchus were 
being massacred. From the Gages' attic window we 
could see the soldiers on the Wu Chang city walls and 
hear the reports of rifle-firing. Betsey, will you be- 
lieve it? Even then I fully expected to go* to' the 
Shuang Kiai. But I was not to go until afternoon; 
and in the meantime the plot continued to thicken. 
One of my Bible-women came in, and she said she had 
been up all night watching the Hanyang people flee- 
ing to the country, carrying bundles of bedding and 
clothing on their backs; there had been a constant 
procession of people from dark to dawn passing along 
our street. Before noon a letter came from the Amer- 
ican consul, advising that foreign women and children 
leave Hanyang. Fighting began between the soldiers 
at Hanyang east gate, which is very near our com- 
pound, and some of the guard-boats on the river. 

[133] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Genevieve went over to the hospital to see what they 
were doing there, and she saw two wounded soldiers 
who had been taken into the ward. Their condition 
made her realize that we were probably in for seri- 
ous trouble. That afternoon she reluctantly sent her 
schoolgirls to their homes. Each one had to have an 
escort who could be depended upon to see her safely 
to her destination. I sent word that any of the Bible- 
school women who wished to do so might go home, 
and all the hospital patients were sent away. Can you 
imagine what heartache it meant for all of us ? 

Late in the afternoon a letter came from the British 
consul, still more strongly urging that we go to Han- 
kow. The Wu Chang missionaries are all shut up in 
the city. The American consul has been trying since 
yesterday morning to get them out, but has not suc- 
ceeded. There is great anxiety because there is fight- 
ing all around them, and several fires raging. 

We left Hanyang at dark last evening, with the 
Gages," three schoolgirls, two teachers, two nurses, and 
a woman servant from the school. Lyde left home 
expecting to spend the night at our house, so she has 
only the few things that she had in her bag. Gene- 
vieve and I are a little better off. Mr. Gage and 
Doctor Lane have gone over this morning to try and 
get some of their belongings. Hanyang and Hankow 
native city were taken by the Revolutionists last night, 
so we did not leave any too soon. There has been 
cannonading, and big fires have ravaged parts of 
both cities. 

[134] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



When we started out last night we could not help 
laughing even in the midst of all our trouble to see the 
way Mrs, Wan and Miss Tang had gotten themselves 
up. They looked like two middle-aged countrywomen. 
Not a woman here wants to look young, pretty, or 
wealthy to-day. Their danger is great enough with- 
out adding to it by attractiveness. Kai Chuin is in 
school in Wu Chang, and as we left, Mrs. Wan's 
nephew, who had gone across the river to try to bring 
him home, came to say that he had been unable to 
obtain any word from Kai Chuin. While he was away 
the Hanyang city gates had been closed, and he could 
not return to his home. His wife had given birth to a 
baby the night before, and she was there alone with 
Mrs. Wan's old mother and three small children. It is 
the same everywhere, anxiety for the safety of loved 
ones who are in danger and families separated. 

None of us slept last night. Volunteer guards 
patrolled the streets of the concessions all night. At 
intervals we heard the tramp, tramp, as they marched 
by. A signal was to be given in case of danger for 
all to rise and dress. A second signal means that all 
are to gather on the Bund near the gunboats, and a 
third that foreign women and children are to go onto 
the boats. We from our mission are staying at a very 
poor hotel. By the time we came last night the con- 
cession was crowded with refugees, and this was the 
only place we could secure rooms. The proprietor has 
been very kind, however, allowing us to have the 
Chinese stay with us. They are accustomed to hard 

[135 1 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



beds, and are thankful to have a safe place to make up 
a bed on the floor. 

Evening. What a day it has been! I hope there 
are not many such ahead. One thing we have to be 
thankful for. The rescue party succeeded in getting 
into Wu Chang and bringing out the missionaries and 
the pupils from the schools. We were down at the 
L. M. S. school when thirty of their Wu Chang school- 
girls, who could not return to their homes, came in. 
They had bundles done up in squares of cotton. (Of 
course, no one could save more than she could carry 
for herself. ) For two days and nights they have been 
shut up in a city where was fighting, incendiarism, and 
massacre. Many do not know if they now have a 
home, or what may have happened to their relatives. 
They must have been tired to death, and they had to 
stand around, because there were no chairs for them. 
But they were heroic. Not a whimper or a word of 
complaint from even the smallest girl. 

We were down there with Mrs. Wan trying to get 
track of Kai Chuin. As the party from Wu Chang 
passed along the street we met Mrs. Wan's nephew. 
He said Kai Chuin was with a friend who had gone 
another way. For two hours Mrs. Wan rushed fran- 
tically from place to place in search of him. It was 
after dark before she found him. How thankful we 
were when we saw them coming in together. 

All day and all night there has been a constant pro- 
cession of people passing both ways through the con- 

[136] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



cession. City people are fleeing to the country, and 
country people rushing to the city, and nowhere is 
there peace and safety for them. 

This evening we have been sitting together in our 
room while Miss Tang has given us some inside infor- 
mation in regard to Chinese history, especially the op- 
pression of the people by the Manchu rulers. The 
Manchus are a comparatively small part of the popula- 
tion, and it is only by keeping the people down in every 
possible way that they can maintain their supremacy. 
She says the idiotic system of education which the 
Chinese use has been imposed upon them by the Man- 
chus, with the express purpose of appearing to give an 
education and at the same time keeping the people 
as stupid and ignorant as possible. If a man should 
find a gold-mine on his property he would not dare let 
it be known for fear his property would be confiscated 
by the rulers. Common people, if they are prosperous, 
try to hide it, partly from fear of robbers, and partly 
from fear of the rulers. Before separating for the 
night we prayed together. In these days of danger 
and distress it is good to know that our heavenly 
Father still cares for us. 

Mrs. Wan has succeeded in sending the last three 
schoolgirls to relatives. When the servant, Ngan Ma, 
heard that Mrs. Wan was coming to the hotel with us 
she cried bitterly. But Mrs. Wan found some one to 
escort her to her relatives. Our great anxiety is that 
we may have to go to Shanghai, and- there will be no 
room on the boats to take the Chinese girls and women 

[ 137 1 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



with us. The two girl nurses, Ma Ta-Ku and Pen 
Ta-Ku, say that in case this happens there would be 
nothing for them to do but to take hold of hands and 
walk down into the river. Two young girls left alone 
at such a time as this would be absolutely at the mercy 
of any evil character. Pen Ta-Ku's mother is dead, 
and her stepfather is in a leper asylum. Ma Ta-Ku 
does not know her parents, if she has any. When a 
small child she was taken by the parents of the ne'er- 
do-weel to whom she is engaged. She will never 
marry him unless she is forced into it, and as she has 
been promised to the hospital for another year Lyde 
does not want to send her home to be forced into the 
marriage immediately. 

Mrs. Wan is older and more capable of planning 
for herself. She intends to take Miss Tang with her 
to the country if we have to leave them. I doubt if 
they would be any better off than in Hanyang. There 
is some semblance of law and order here. To be sure, 
it is military law, and enforced at the point of the 
bayonet ; but even so, it seems that it is better than the 
looting and ravaging that is taking place in the coun- 
try. Doctor Lane saw a man in Hanyang start to pick 
up a pink ribbon which had been dropped in the street. 
A soldier instantly pointed his rifle at him, and the man 
decided he did not want the ribbon. We have feared 
the very word revolutionary, thinking that if a revolu- 
tion were started it would mean uprisings here and 
there, mobs, riots, bloodshed, and dreadful disorder, 
with severe punishment for those that led the affair. 

[138] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Instead, there seems to be an organization and leader- 
ship worthy of any nation. As soon as the revolu- 
tionists gain control they preserve as good order as 
could be imagined in a Chinese city under such circum- 
stances. In some ways it seems these days might be 
compared with the Reign of Terror in France. There 
is no quarter for the Manchus. The penalty for every 
offense from the least to the greatest is beheading. 

Saturday evening. On board S. S. Yoh Yang 
Maru. An extra this afternoon says that twenty thou- 
sand troops are on their way from Peking. Foreign 
women and children are advised by the consuls to go 
to Shanghai. So when we found that we could secure 
passage on this steamer, bringing the nurses and Miss 
Tang with us, we came. By us I mean Lyde, Gene- 
vieve, and myself. Mrs. Wan has gone to the country. 
Just after she left a young man, with whom we talked 
last Thursday, returned from the country. He wanted 
to tell her to remain in Hankow, but was too late. He 
said that conditions are frightful. He was haggard 
and unshaven, and looked as if he had neither eaten 
nor slept since we saw him before. 

As we started out from the hotel Lui Ta-Peo and 
Mrs. Tseo met me. They brought the first word I 
have heard from the women's school since we left 
Wednesday night Not a very cheering word. The 
women are all scattered. Mrs. Tseo thinks that her 
mother and little daughter have both been killed in the 
Wu Chang massacre. Their home has been burned. 

K [ 139 ] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



They had spent their last cash to get to me. I gave 
them nearly all the money I had. Paper money is of 
no use, and the supply of silver is limited. It was all 
I could do for them. They and Pao-Chen came with 
us to the boat. It was a sorrowful farewell. How 
little we know what the future holds for them or us! 

Monday. The steamer is crowded with refugees. 
We discovered Shen Tai-Tai on board. She could not 
get passage, even second cabin, and was down in the 
hold. We went to the captain and got permission for 
her to sleep on the upper deck. It is cold, but better 
than she had been enduring. 

Gunboats of all nationalities are rushing up river. 
Everybody everywhere seems to be trying to get to 
some other place. Perhaps you pity us having to leave 
our homes and all our worldly possessions, not ex- 
pecting ever to see them again, for there will certainly 
be looting of property. But we are wasting no pity on 
ourselves. There are too many around us in sore 
trouble and distress. Our greatest trouble is in having 
to leave our work and our people when they need us 
most. 

We expected to find Kiu Kiang and Nanking in the 
hands of the revolutionists, but the Dragon flag is still 
flying over both cities. We expect to be in Shanghai 
to-morrow morning, so do not worry, for I am well 
if not happy. 

Lovingly, 

Jane. 
[ 140] 



XXXI 



Shanghai, October 25. 

Dear Betsey: Does it make me seem near to see 
the United States stamp on my letters again ? I really 
wonder if I am on my way home. If the revolution 
continues it may be years before we shall be able to 
resume our work. There has been talk of the evacua- 
tion of the foreign concessions in Hankow. 

Our friends here were expecting us and received us 
royally. Shanghai is crowded with refugees, and prep- 
arations are being made for more to come. You never 
saw such excitement as there is over the daily papers. 
I ought to be studying, but all I do is to read and 
talk of the war and the amazing changes it is bringing. 
Think what wonderful opportunities we are going to 
have in helping to build the new China when the war 
is over. Whether the revolution is successful or not, 
there will be great changes, and it seems that this is 
the moment of the ages in China. And if the oppor- 
tunity comes I am here and ready for work. Do you 
not envy me? 

Lyde succeeded in putting the two nurses into a 
mission hospital, where they can be useful during their 
enforced stay ; and Miss Tang is with her sister in the 
concession. Her brother-in-law is an official, and they 
are apprehensive for his safety. Miss Tang spends 

[ 141 ] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



her time driving back and forth from their residence, 
bringing out as many things as she can unobserved. 

The American mail closes in an hour, and it does 
seem lovely not to write a letter that is worth five cents. 

Your 

Jane. 



[142] 



XXXII 



Shanghai, November 3. 

Betsey : The opportunity for work has come earlier 
than I anticipated, and it is the work which I have 
said all my life I would never, never do. Lyde and 
Doctor Lane are returning to Hankow for Red Cross 
work, and as no women are allowed to stay in Han- 
kow except for that work I have volunteered to go 
with them. I have had only a few hours to make my 
preparations. I am sending a long letter to mother, in 
which I do not mention my return. You may suppress 
this for a few days, and so save her some anxiety. I 
am so glad that she always wants me to do my duty. 
Underneath and round about me are the Everlasting 
Arms, and I am as safe in the war zone of China as 
I would be at home, for " all things work together for 
good to them who love God." 

This evening came the news that Hankow is being 
burned by the Imperialists. A man who arrived from 
there to-day says the city was a mass of flames when 
he left. His portrayal of the horrors of war was even 
more vivid than the newspaper accounts, although 
they have been dreadful enough. As we said good- 
bye one of the men said to me, " You are a brave girl." 
I'm not, Betsey; I only want to do my part. 

We are now on the boat. Since we came on board 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



we see the burning of the yamen and the official build- 
ings. The glare in the sky announces that Shanghai 
has gone over to the revolutionists. May they quickly 
win, and carnage and bloodshed cease ! 

There are only six first-cabin passengers — four of 
us for Red Cross work, and two business men. We 
have no assurance that our boat will go to Hankow, so 
I will comfort your heart by telling you that I may be 
forced to return to Shanghai. We buy our tickets at 
our own risk. You know I love you. 

Jane. 



[144] 



XXXIII 



On board S. S. Sui Wo, November 4. 

Dear Betsey : I lay awake all last night staring into 
the dark, seeing gory visions of dismembered bodies 
and ghastly, gaping wounds. Betsey, can I ever go 
through with what I have undertaken? You know I 
have always said I could never be a nurse, and have 
shuddered at the sight of blood. And now I have de- 
liberately put myself in a place where I shall have to 
face things which make strong men turn away in 
horror. I am weak and faint-hearted to-day. I wish I 
could run away, straight home to you and mother, and 
forget this dreadful war and all the suffering it is bring- 
ing to multitudes of people, some of them my friends. 
I have two days of grace in which to get my nerve back, 
and I suspect I shall have to be " right on the job " 
every minute. 

At Chin Kiang we heard that Hanyang is being 
bombarded. Our home and all our mission buildings 
are in the direct line of fire. 

Kiu Kiang, November 6. We have been here sev- 
eral hours. Only one steamer has gone beyond this 
point in the last five days. But the captain has de- 
cided to go* on, so now we hope to reach Hankow. 
Hankow is two-thirds in ashes and still burning. Kiu 

[145] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Kiang is flying the revolutionary flag, and the soldiers 
all have the white strip around the sleeve. 

Tuesday. Early this morning at Seven Mile Creek 
we were transferred to a small up-river steamer. There 
was no one to be seen anywhere but soldiers. We 
heard gun- and rifle-firing, but no attempt was made 
to stop our boat. Finally we reached Hankow, but, 
oh! such a different Hankow from the one we left. 
Instead of scores of coolies to meet our boat, there 
were only two. Even the beggars are gone. The 
streets are deserted. It seems like a city of the dead. 
Smoke still hangs like a dark cloud above the native 
city, and a darker cloud enshrouds the lives of the few 
people who are here. We hoped the fighting would 
be over, but it is not. We hear wonderful stories of 
the heroic work that has been done by the Red Cross 
people in rescuing those who were entrapped by the 
fire. Mr. Gage was one of the foremost ones in bring- 
ing out the thirty blind boys from the Blind School. 
They had been shut in there for two days, with the 
fires on three sides drawing nearer and nearer. There 
are still many wounded on the battlefields, because the 
Red Cross workers cannot get to them. 

Lyde and I have secured a room in the home of a 
missionary, whose family have gone to Shanghai. We 
have laid in a supply of tinned goods sufficient to keep 
us from starvation for a few days. But we have no 
fire, and it's pretty shivery. We have been warned that 
when we go on the streets we must keep to the side as 

[146] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



much as possible, so that the buildings will be some- 
what of a protection from the bullets which fly fre- 
quently even in the foreign concession. It is remark- 
able that only one foreigner here has been hit by a 
bullet. The Chinese explain this by saying that the 
bullets were made by foreigners, and have eyes so 
they can see and not hit a foreigner. Everybody here 
is devoting all his energies to the care of the wounded, 
either nursing or collecting materials and making bed- 
ding and clothing. The women who* are not nursing 
work long hours at the sewing-machines, or in the sup- 
ply rooms receiving and giving out supplies. 

We came to be near our people. But how little we 
realized conditions! It seems we might as well be a 
thousand miles away ! No one can go anywhere with- 
out a military permit. It means taking one's life in 
his hand to attempt to go even from here to Hanyang. 
Men are summarily shot as spies if they cannot prove 
their innocence on the instant. The native post-offices 
are abandoned, and postal communication has been 
broken off. 

Lyde and I are to go on night duty in the Inter- 
national Hospital. It is an unfinished building, which 
is being used as an emergency hospital. It is the most 
awful place I ever was in. There are few beds; most 
of the men lie on the floors. I am sure I am going 
to be afraid to be there at night — only us two foreign 
women with over a hundred men patients, some Revo- 
lutionary and some Imperialist soldiers. And it is so 
dreadful to see the poor, shattered, maimed bodies. 

[147] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Some Chinese boys who are training as nurses are to 
help as night-watchers. 

November n, 1.30 a. m. At the International Hos- 
pital. Betsey, do you think I am heartless to sit down 
to write when an Imperial captain who tried to commit 
suicide is groaning loudly enough to wake all the other 
hundred patients? The Chinese nurse says his foot 
aches. Lyde says his ache is elsewhere. I don't pre- 
tend to know, not being a medical man myself. 

I am glad I am on night duty. I can stand the 
groans by night better than I could to see the dressing 
of wounds by day. Nearly every case is a surgical 
case. Last night I had to watch by a man who had 
been shot through the chest. He had hemorrhages 
which could not be stopped. The blood soaked the 
bandages and the bed, and ran down on the floor. 
The doctors had done all that could possibly be done. 
I simply had to sit there hour after hour while the 
man's Kfe ebbed away. If the wound had been any- 
where else it would not have seemed quite so awful 
to- me. Lyde was busy with those who needed a nurse's 
attention, so she could not relieve me. Before morn- 
ing I was called to help Lyde and the doctor with 
another bad hemorrhage. I had to hold the candle 
in just the right position while they - worked as fast 
as they could to save the man's life. Lyde said after- 
ward that she had half an eye on me all the time 
for fear I would faint. She will not fear that again. 
I think two nights have inured me to anything I shall 

[148] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



have to face during the war. It is as bad as I feared, 
but I am here for work. 

Our hospital is on the border of the Russian conces- 
sion. Russian soldiers are on guard day and night, 
and we can see the sentries as they pace their beats 
during the long night-watches. Directly across the 
street in Chinese territory is an Imperial encampment. 
Both Imperial and Revolutionary armies assure the 
concessions of their protection, but so long as they 
are on opposite sides of us, and the guns of the op- 
posing armies aimed in our direction, ours is not an 
enviable position. We constantly hear the noise of 
battle, the boom of cannon, and distant rifle-firing. 
We hear little outside news. To-day's paper says that 
General Li did not agree to Yuan Shi Kai's terms, so 
I suppose they mean to fight it out to the bitter end. 
We hear of antiforeign feeling in some places. One 
hundred and fifty foreign refugees are to pass through 
here to-morrow. 

Pao Chen somehow learned that I was back in Han- 
kow, and yesterday at noon he wakened me by calling 
"Keo Siao-tsieh! " under our window. He says several 
families are living on our compound. When the shells 
fly above them they all go down into the cistern, which 
is dry. Thirty people have stayed down there for 
hours together. Mrs. Wan is back there, but dares 
not remain because the shells and bullets fall too 
thickly. She wanted to know if I could help her to get 
away. But it is impossible for me to arrange even for 
her. 

I 149 ] 






LETTERS TO BETSEY 



The men here in the hospital keep up a constant 
groaning and moaning, and cries of, " O-tih Hang ah 
(My mother) ! " " Teng puh teh liao (My pain is 
inexpressible) ! " or " Teng si (Pain to death) ! " Lyde 
has just gone to see who the latest sufferer is. It 
seems the rule that we must have two or three bad 
hemorrhage cases every night. I must go. 

Jane. 



[150] 



XXXIV 



Red Cross Hospital, November 16. 

Darling Betsey: The witching hour of midnight 
is three hours past, so I may not finish this before 
morning; and daylight, every hour we can get to our- 
selves is sacred to sleep, which, by the way, is dream- 
haunted by cries of a Teng puh teh liao ! " and " Teng 
si!" and such gruesome sights as you can scarcely 
imagine. 

We are helpless as ever about getting any warm 
clothing from Hanyang. I have no winter coat, and 
we nearly freeze in this unfinished building. Some 
of the windows have no glass and the rain beats in, and 
the wind sweeps through the corridors like a hurricane. 
We can get no laundry done. I suppose there is a limit 
to the length of time we can wear soiled clothing. 
Lady Macbeth's hand could not compare with the skirt 
Lyde has on for goriness. 

4.00 a. m. } November 18. We are in the midst of 
another big battle. The air is thick with powder 
smoke, and the firing-line is so near that we can watch 
it from the windows. The battle has been raging all 
night and yesterday and last night, but it is only the 
last hour that it has been so near. I hope it means 
that the Imperialists are being driven back, but if they 

[I5i] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



keep backing up, our hospital will soon be in danger. 
The men are more restless than usual. When I urge 
them to sleep they say, " We have affairs on our 
hearts." 

While we were eating our midnight lunch we heard 
groaning. We learn to recognize the different groans, 
and soon realized it was a new patient, this time an 
Imperial captain carried by several soldiers. A boat- 
man who was shot while crossing the river was brought 
in. He died within an hour. Another man has died 
since we came on duty, and still another looks as if 
every breath might be his last. 

We are taking our meals at the hospital. I fear we 
would not have survived long on tinned goods eaten in 
a room so cold that our hands stung with cold. 

November 25. The Red Cross launch has been 
making trips to Hanyang to bring over the wounded. 
Last night when we came on duty we found the cor- 
ridors" full of wounded men lying on the floor or on 
stretchers. Some had been lying on the battlefield for 
days with no attention whatever. Their clothing is 
soiled, muddy, and blood-soaked, and the wounds are 
in a frightful condition. 

There had not been sufficient blankets for the men 
who were here before. But now they are packed in on 
the floor like sardines, and each man has at least some 
straw under him, and part of a blanket over him. 
They are so close together that we can scarcely step 
around them to care for those who need attention. 



[152] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Oh ! If we only had things to make them comfortable ! 
There are no sheets or pillows. Nothing but coarse 
gunny sacks with a little straw to lie on; some have 
only loose straw. 

Last night I watched by a man whose leg had been 
amputated. He was delirious and almost died when 
brought in. He had been lying four days on the 
battlefield with no care. At first I could quiet him. 
Then he thought he was in prison. He would look 
wildly at the white plastered walls, and say : " I know 
where I am. I'm in prison. Don't I see these stone 
walls? " Then he would shout for the officer, saying 
the foreign miss was killing him. I feared he would 
be believed by the other new patients. So I left him 
with the Chinese boy, but he was as wild as ever. This 
morning when I went in he asked me in a quiet, ironic 
tone, " How does your heart feel after killing me in the 
night? " He died before we came on duty to-night. 

One man who was shot through the brain continu- 
ally wanted to stand up. Then he would drop over 
like a log. The others in the ward were afraid he 
would fall on them. So one night I took a brick in to 
sit on, and there I sat all night, letting him clutch and 
claw at me. It was the first time in my life I ever sat 
and let a man hold my hand ! Poor fellow ! He didn't 
know enough to appreciate the privilege. 

Jane. 



[i53l 



xxxy 



Hankow, November 30. 

Dearest Betsey : War grows more dreadful every 
day. We are in the depths now over the recapture of 
Hanyang by the Imps. (That title is too good for 
them. The things they do are devilish.) Lyde and I 
went over on Monday. Yes, I have actually been 
home, in my own rooms. Everything was in order as 
I left it, not even dusty. It seemed that I might have 
just come in after an hour's absence. But even while 
we were there the Revolutionists were evacuating the 
city, and the Imperialists were entering by the west 
gate. 

Needless to say we had not expected this defeat of 
the Revolutionists, or Lyde and I would not have been 
there at that time. We asked to go on the Red Cross 
launch to bring over some clothes. When we reached 
Hanyang the river-bank was strewn with unused car- 
riages, and there were other signs of a retreat. Lyde 
and I went into Pastor Tsao's to see the family. Be- 
fore we reached our house one of the men came run- 
ning to say we must be ready to leave at a moment's 
notice. We threw some things together, and were 
ready when they called us. Lyde could not go for 
her things at the other compound, but we brought some 
of Genevieve's clothes for her. Mrs. Wan is back in 

[154] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the country. Her mother came, and with tears begged 
us to find some way to save her daughter. She said 
it did not matter about herself, for she is an old woman. 
All the people we saw looked so worn and anxious. 

Carriers could not be found to bring in the wounded, 
so few were brought over that day. Before the boat 
started bullets were coming our way, and we crossed 
to the Wu Chang side to come down river, as the 
Revolutionists are usually more careful to respect the 
Red Cross flag. But even there we were stopped twice 
by too zealous Revolutionists, who threatened to fire 
on us. A superior officer came up and made the one 
who had threatened us stand at attention in front of 
the field-piece which his comrades had ready to fire, 
while we came on down river. Meanwhile the Im- 
perialists were firing on us from the Hankow side, but 
their bullets fell a little short. 

It was afternoon when we reached Hankow, and 
Lyde and I hurried away to our room to secure what 
rest we could before night. During the afternoon I 
was wakened by Mr. Yang calling under our window. 
He is one of our teachers who is waiting here for me 
to make arrangements for him to take his family to 
his home in Kiu Kiang. He told us of the dreadful 
events of the afternoon. Within a half-hour after we 
left the river it was the scene of the most dreadful car- 
nage, swept by a terrific cross-fire from the Imperial- 
ists on the Hankow side and the Revolutionists on the 
Wu Chang side. Whole boatloads of civilians as well 
as soldiers who were trying to escape from Hanyang 

L [ 155 3 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



were shot to death. Mr. Yang said : " The foreigners 
are very good. When we Chinese would start back 
in horror and dare not go near, the foreigners would 
go on the boats and do all that could be done for the 
dead and dying." 

One of the Red Cross party said that they were 
trying to save a boatload of men, women, and chil- 
dren who were attempting to reach the Wu Chang 
side, using the loose floor boards of the boat as oars. 
On the approach of the launch they set up the most 
terrible cries for mercy. The men tried in vain to tell 
them that they had come to save them and heal the 
wounded who were lying about the boat. They might 
have succeeded in quieting the terrified creatures, but a 
company of soldiers came running down the bank, and 
in spite of the Red Cross flag threatened to fire if they 
did not leave. I have been to the L. M. S. Hospital. 
There I found one of Genevieve's schoolgirls. The 
family were in a boat that day, and the mother, grand- 
mother, and little brother were shot dead, and this 
girl and her father both wounded. 

Betsey, you will learn to dread my letters if I write 
so much of the horrors of war. But while I am here 
that is all I have to write, and what I tell can give 
but a feeble hint of the reality. The other day we 
were wakened by the z-ripping of shells through the air. 
It sounded directly above our house. Then we heard 
them crashing into buildings not far away. A bullet 
struck the wall of our room, but it was nearly spent 
and fell harmlessly to the ground. I have it as a 

[156] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



souvenir. For a half-hour we had a chance to realize 
what the Hanyang people have been living through 
these past weeks. We are accustomed to having can- 
non to right of us, cannon to left of us, and cannon be- 
hind us, volleying and thundering night and day, and 
to the incessant snap of rifles, but it is quite different 
to hear that z-z-rip of shells hurtling through the air 
directly toward you. Lately the concessions have been 
exposed to constant danger, and the consular body has 
again arranged a code of signals to be given if it is 
decided that the foreigners shall retreat to the boats. 
While the shells were falling in the concessions that 
day suddenly a bell began to ring. For a minute 
Lyde and I thought it was the signal for retreat. Then 
my heart did go pit-a-pat! But the bell was ringing 
for a meeting to plan a line of defense, or some equally 
interesting object. 

When we went to Hanyang Mrs. Tsao told of how, 
when the shells are passing over them, the Christians 
gather under a sort of earthwork which they have 
made in our front yard, and kneel and pray for God's 
protection. He has answered many such prayers for 
his children. It is truly miraculous that with the many 
deaths here we have heard of only one Christian who 
has been killed. I know that there are many people 
at home who are praying for us, and in answer to 
prayer God is keeping and using us. 

Your loving 

Jane. 



[157] 



XXXVI 



Red Cross Hospital, December 7. 

My own Betsey : Since the recapture of Hanyang 
there is a lull in the hostilities. Truce has been de- 
clared for a few days. But here in the hospital there 
is no quiet. Two opium fiends make more trouble than 
any of the other patients. One we call the baby be- 
cause he groans and moans so much. We threaten all 
sorts of dire things if he doesn't keep quiet and let 
the others sleep. Two men with face wounds are the 
most grotesquely gruesome objects. Their faces are 
swollen so their eyes are shut, and blood and saliva 
dribbling from their open mouths. It makes me sick 
to see them, but they have to be cared for the same as 
the others. One poor man is crying out at the top of 
his voice. I have been in with him, but he seemed so 
bad I asked Lyde to go. She says there is nothing 
more to do. 

Later. He has died and been carried out to the 
morgue. Does it not seem dreadful that we have no 
way of letting the relatives know of a death? The 
dead are simply carried out, wrapped in a sheet of 
coarse matting, and buried the next day. Mothers 
will never know what became of their sons, nor wives 
hear the story of their husbands' death. 

[158] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Doctor Lane obtained a permit to go through the 
lines of the Imperial army to Hanyang yesterday, and 
Lyde and I went with him. This time we walked all 
the way, as no boats dare go on the river. We had 
nearly twenty coolies to carry things — quite a cortege. 
Such scenes of desolation as we passed through ! Block 
after block for miles just a waste of broken brick and 
tiles, with occasionally the ruins of one wall standing. 
Since the armistice is on the people are venturing back 
into the city. They were here, there, and everywhere 
poking about among the debris or gathering up broken 
bricks or tile with which to put up some sort of shelter 
for themselves, pitiful little places three or four feet 
high into which they can crawl for the night. 

Lyde and the doctor stayed at the hospital, and I 
went on with one of the foreign men who accompanied 
us. We passed trenches where are buried hundreds of 
men who were killed in the last battles. 

When I entered our house I thought looters had 
been in. It is a sorry-looking place, with broken walls 
and floors covered with plaster. Two shells have 
wrought havoc, both up-stairs and down. But I had 
no time to waste in examining the extent of the dam- 
age. I wanted to* see the people and pack up as many 
things as four or five men could carry. We had little 
time to stay, as it is a long walk each way, and we had 
to be back in the concession before dark. It seemed 
heartless to be bringing our things away, and leaving 
the people to face — what? Still no news from Mrs. 
Wan. Pao Chen came back with us. He can keep a 

[159] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



fire for us and be useful in many ways. He had a 
letter from San Teh for me, written in English. All 
his English has been learned since he left us. Among 
other interesting items is this : " I heard that when 
Hanyang was taken by the Imperial army that there 
was a Christian church fired. I was much sorry to 
hear that wonderful speaking. For I don't know which 
church had been met such unprecedented troublesome." 
He has been married, as the parents of most girls of 
marriageable age are anxious to have the girls mar- 
ried. They think a girl is safer in the husband's home. 
A letter from Mr. Yang thanking me for my help in 
getting his family away to Kiu Kiang says that his 
father, mother, and brothers were all moved to the 
country " because of those cityzens were afraid of the 
hurlyburly happened. Kiukiang is a pieceful city, but 
it is also a dangerous city. For there are not much 
ambicious general to do there duty in Kiukiang." I 
suspect that Kiu Kiang is not the only city in China 
afflicted in this way. 

December zj. We made another trip to Hanyang 
last week, and this time we brought Mrs, Wan, her 
mother, and son, the family of our hospital steward, 
Mr. Lan, and the blind organist back with us. Mrs. 
Wan has gone on to Shanghai, and the Lans have 
rooms near the concession. He is helping in the hos- 
pital. 

When we reached the fortifications at the border of 
the concession on our way back we had to wait for Mr. 

[160] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Lan to make some arrangements. A wild-looking 
Chinese woman with long, matted hair hanging down 
her back was wailing and shrieking at the top of her 
voice, or talking to the English soldiers who were on 
guard. Of course they do not understand Chinese. I 
was carrying a lamp, and she came and tried to take 
it from me. Lyde had a lantern, which she set down 
while we waited. The woman grabbed it and ran 
off with it. This is the poor woman's story. When 
Hankow was taken by the Imperialists the soldiers 
entered her home, killed her husband, maltreated the 
woman, then put her in a large chest and locked it, 
and went away leaving her there. It was three days 
before she was discovered by a band of Revolutionists. 
They sent her to the L. M. S. Hospital, but she was so 
raving crazy that she disturbed the other patients, and 
they could not keep her. There was no place to send 
her but to the street. Such sad stories are common 
here now. It breaks one's heart to hear of the things 
that are taking place. Oh, when will it all be over? 
"O Lord, how long?" 

We have had one hundred and eighty patients in the 
hospital at one time. Now we have only two- untrained 
men as helpers on night duty, so you see we are busy. 
Each time we went to Hanyang it meant twenty-four 
hours of work without rest, but it was our only oppor- 
tunity to get our things, for Mr. Gage went down to 
Shanghai some time ago to stay with Mrs. Gage until 
after the holidays, and Doctor Lane soon leaves on fur- 
lough. 

[161] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



We have great times with the convalescents wanting 
to gamble. One night I saw some men sitting in a 
circle on the floor. My suspicions were aroused, and 
I went over. One of them was reading a tract aloud. 
As I turned away he remarked audibly, " The Miss 
likes us to read tracts." But the Miss was not so obtuse 
as she might have been. I continued to visit that 
corner until they decided they might as well go to 
bed (or should I say "to floor."?). Another night 
I had to take my chair up to the attic, and sit there 
in the middle of the room among those fifty or sixty 
men until they settled down, because some would start 
to gamble as soon as I would leave the room. 

When we first came there was a pile of new blankets 
on which I used to lie down to take a nap some time 
during the night if we were not too busy. They were 
soon used. Then a pile of newspapers were sent in. 
That pile also diminished, and at last I had nothing but 
the cold bare floor. I cannot sleep sitting up as Lyde 
does for her infrequent naps. Doctor Wong, who hails 
from Shanghai, then insisted on leaving his fur coat 
to help keep us comfortable during the nights, I have 
just had a nap, curled up in it on the floor. Now 
Lyde is resting with her head on the operating-table. 
We eat our midnight lunch in here, as this is the 
warmest place. We have steam-heat on now, so do not 
suffer with the cold. I don't sleep two minutes before 
I have nightmare, and Lyde has to waken me. In 
my sleeping hours I live all over again the horrors of 
the waking hours. 

[162] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Our chief source of amusement these days is the 
way in which the Chinese are adopting the dress of 
the barbarians, as they have always called the for- 
eigners. The black satin, red-buttoned caps have given 
way to foreign hats and caps of every style that has 
been known during the last fifty years. In interior 
places the missionaries are asked to loan their clothes 
to be used as patterns. While the Revolutionists were 
in possession of Hankow and Hanyang the soldiers 
went around one day with swords in hand, asking all 
the men on the streets if they were Revolutionists. 
Of course they did not dare be anything else, and when 
they assented up went a sword and off came a queue. 
When the Imperialists returned many men tied their 
queues on under their caps, fearing they might lose 
their heads for lack of a queue. The question of 
hair versus head is a serious one for some people now- 
adays. 

Jane. 



[163] 



XXXVII 



Hankow, December 21. 

Darling Betsey: We have had several changes 
since I wrote. Doctor Lane has gone, and Lyde and I 
are now on day duty. Doctor and Mrs. Murray, of 
our West China Mission, have come, and are in our 
hospital. Everybody who has had any training is 
pressed into service in the operating-room, so it leaves 
me the only foreigner in the wards with one hundred 
and ten patients, and no trained Chinese help. Lyde 
and Mrs. Murray are kept more than busy sterilizing 
instruments, preparing dressings, etc. I go flying from 
pillow to post (both minus quantities, by the way, you 
understand this is figuratively speaking), with ther- 
mometer or watch in hand, taking temperatures or 
pulses* or with cotton-batting rings to put under the 
sore spots; or with alcohol or iodine to apply exter- 
nally, or quinine or cough medicine to apply inter- 
nally. 

What would I not give for a few dozen nice clean 
sheets and some decent pillows! It is dreadful to 
watch by dying men who are lying on coarse, rough 
gunny sacks. Sometimes we do not have even enough 
straw for pads to put under amputated limbs which 
must be propped up without taking it from under the 
heads of men who are using it for a pillow. Now, do 

[164] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



you begin to understand a little of what emergency 
hospital work in war-times means ? A nurse who has 
had twenty years' experience at home and in China says 
that she never saw anything like what we are meeting 
in the Red Cross work here. A reporter who has 
spent days on the battlefield was in the operating-room 
one day. But he did not stay long ! He said he could 
stand the sights of the battlefield better than to watch 
the dressing of the wounds. Can you believe that I 
sometimes stay by men when they are afraid of an 
especially painful dressing ? One man even wanted me 
to stand by while he had his leg amputated, he was 
sure the job would be properly done if I watched. 

The armistice continues till Christmas Day. My 
courage all oozes out at the tips of my toes when I 
think that fighting may begin again then. 

December 26. Genevieve came to spend Christmas 
with us. Wasn't that delightful? There is no pros- 
pect of her being able to' open school soon, so she is 
going home on furlough. Only a few weeks and she 
will see you. She left to-day, and I had hard work to 
swallow the lumps as Lyde and I came back from see- 
ing her off. I wouldn't go with her now if I could, 
much as I want to see you, but that does not make it 
any easier to be left. 

We could not give her a happy time. Even on 
Christmas Day we worked in the hospital till late in the 
afternoon. I came near forgetting to order the dinner ! 
Fortunately the stores were open when we went home 

[ 165 1 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



late Saturday night, so we got some of the " fixings," 
and Pao Chen cooked a good dinner on Monday. We 
invited Doctor and Mrs. Murray, and had a pleasant 
evening together, thankful for every hour that passed 
without the sound of cannonading. Once we did hear 
the boom of guns, and feared the fighting had begun 
again. But it soon stopped. It was the strangest 
Christmas I have ever had. 

Since I have been on day duty we have had so few 
helpers that something had to be neglected. I pre- 
ferred it should be the hospital rather than the patients. 
To-day Doctor Ferris, who is in charge, gave me an- 
other coolie to work in the wards. I decided to " have 
a clarin' up spell." I gave the coolie three good 
puh-kais (you remember they are a kind of comfort- 
able) to take off the covers for washing, meanwhile 
airing the cotton-batting. A few moments later I called 
for the man. He had disappeared, and with him the 
puh-kais and several other things. Everything which 
cannot be kept under lock we must watch as a cat 
watches a mouse, or they take unto themselves wings 
and fly away. 

A Chinese evangelist comes and talks to the patients 
every day. One ward we call the religious ward, be- 
cause the men there seem especially interested in hear- 
ing the gospel. One day I was doing something for one 
of those men, and he said, " You are like God to us." 
Of course I said no. But he said, " Well, you are the 
one who has made us know about God." Your loving 

Jane. 

[166] 






XXXVIII 



Hankow, January 10, 19 12. 

Dear Betsey : This is the tenth day of the first year 
of the Chinese Republic. Long may it live and prosper ! 

Two nurses, refugees from the interior, have come 
to our hospital to help, so now I am having a compara- 
tively easy time. I had a few days off; now two of us 
stay on duty at a time. Lyde and I go for a walk or 
go calling sometimes in the afternoon, and we have 
been invited out to dinner several times. We are be- 
ginning to realize once more that we are social beings. 
We Americans gave a reception to the American 
marines from the gunboats on New Year's evening. 
Last Saturday the Murrays, Mr. and Mrs. Dye, and we 
two were invited by Mr. and Mrs. Wong Kuang to go 
on a launch-party down to the Yangtze Engineering 
Works. Mr. Wong is the superintendent of the works, 
and is a splendid Christian man. He and his wife were 
both educated abroad, speak English, and wear Euro- 
pean dress. It was a beautiful day, and the river so 
calm and peaceful it was difficult to believe that it had 
been the scene of frightful carnage for weeks. Tea 
was served on the launch coming home, and we enjoyed 
the trip immensely. 

One of the saddest things now is to meet people 
who come to the hospital in search of sons or other 

[167] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 






relatives. One man said he had been in every hospital 
in Wu Han looking for his son. Think of the agony 
of suspense ! He went sadly away alone. One day I 
found a mother standing in the corridor with her son. 
She had just found him after months, in which she had 
received no word from him and feared he was dead. 
He had lost a leg, and the poor mother was weeping, 
I don't know whether from joy over rinding her boy, 
or sorrow over his maimed condition. 

January 18. Our hospital is closed, and the patients 
who could not be dismissed have been sent to other 
hospitals. Some who are still dangerously sick cried 
like babies when they were carried away on stretchers. 
It seems that they appreciate what we have done for 
them. I think some of them have truly become Chris- 
tians since they came to us. One man when carried 
out to the stretcher kept crying, " My books ! My 
books! " until his Testament and hymn-book were 
handed* to him. Others professed belief in Christ, and 
promised to strive to live for him. Lyde and I gave 
New Testaments and hymn-books to many of them to 
remind them of their promise. 

We are making the consul's life a burden by our 
importunities for his consent to our going back to 
Hanyang to live. No reason why we shouldn't, as 
long as there is no fighting, but he does not share this 
opinion. I am going over for the meetings, but we 
cannot do much unless we live there. Perhaps it will 
be difficult for you to believe, but in spite of all the 

[168] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



experiences of anxiety and sorrow of these past months 
we both feel almost as if we had been on furlough, 
because we have gotten away for a time from the hard 
problems and the heavy responsibility that we must 
constantly face in the mission work. One of the most 
necessary lessons for a missionary to learn is to cast all 
care upon Him, knowing he careth for us. Perhaps 
I have not learned this as perfectly as I should. 

Mr. Gage has returned from Shanghai. He brought 
some of our home Christmas mail. Lyde and I had a 
jollification that evening opening our packages. This 
brings you loving thanks from 

Jane. 



[169] 



XXXIX 



Hankow, February 8. 

Dearest Betsey : I did so hope that I would be able 
to write Hanyang- at the head of this letter. We have 
been to see the consul again; he has heard reports of 
antiforeign feeling, so he still refuses consent to our 
living in Hanyang, and as our orders from Boston are 
to await consular advice, here we await! Mrs. Wan 
returned from Shanghai to-day. 

February 10. We have had a bright idea, and are 
executing it. To-day we went home and shoveled the 
plaster out of the down-stairs rooms, put them in 
order, took supplies, and left the cook there to prepare 
our meals. Lyde and I shall go over every morning 
before, breakfast and return after the day's work is 
done. The boy escorts us back and forth. But we 
aren't afraid of the soldier boys with their swords 
dangling by their sides. One day two of them stopped 
and gave us the military salute. We simply could not 
stay here and twirl our thumbs, waiting for China to 
get settled. I suspect we would have a long wait. The 
Chinese say, " This is not a day's affair." A country 
of four hundred million people cannot be made over in 
a day or a year. 

Famine-relief work has been started for the poor in 

[170] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Hankow. The foreign refugees from the interior are 
giving their time to this work. The men are digging 
sewers, and the women are given sewing to do. The 
numbers increase constantly as the people venture back 
from the country. Hundreds of women are employed 
in the workrooms at a pittance of less than five cents 
a day. They sit all day on the cold cement floors. 
Some mothers come to work with two- or three-days- 
old babies in their arms. One of these, when asked 
why she did not remain at home for a few days, re- 
plied that she had an old mother and three children 
besides the tiny baby who are dependent upon her. She 
must work to keep them from starving. 

February n. Oh, joy! We are going home to- 
morrow. When we came home to-night we found a 
note from the consul saying we may stay in Hanyang. 

The river was rough to-day, so we walked over. On 
the way we met six executioners carrying their long, 
murderous knives. It made me shudder to think of 
their brutal work. We just escaped a falling wall — 
had to go back and make a detour to avoid the falling 
bricks. Many deaths have been caused by the collapse 
of burned walls in the native city. 

February 12. We came over in the rain and a small 
boat to-day. The Gages will come to-morrow. There 
are only the four of us left to "hold the fort" in 
the mission. We did not bring all our things home, as 
peace is not assured, and we may not be able to remain. 

M [171] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Mr. Shih has returned from the country. Mrs. 
Shih was not strong enough to endure the hardships 
they encountered. Just before her death Mr. Shih was 
sitting by her. Suddenly she raised up, and reaching 
out her arms, she exclaimed with a light on her face, 
"The angels!" They were her last words, Mr. Shih 
is left with two small children. He seems heart-broken. 
Theirs was a love-match, a rare thing in China, you 
know, and they always seemed devoted to one another. 

Mrs. Tseo, the Bible-school teacher, you remember, 
was with the Shihs for several weeks. All this time 
she believed that her mother and little daughter had 
been massacred in Wu Chang. Finally she learned 
that they had escaped to the country, and she is now 
with them. What a reunion they must have had ! Mr. 
Shih also told me of one of the Shuang Kiai schoolgirls. 
There were nine in the family. They were in a boat 
trying to escape on that awful day of the evacuation 
of Hanyang, and six of the family were killed by 
the exploding of a shell. 

The house is not yet all in order. To-day I went 
into the guest-room. There were my books open, and 
the teacher's teapot and cup with tea in it just as we 
left it four months ago yesterday. 

Your own 



Jane. 



[172] 



XL 



Hanyang, March 9. 

Beloved Betsey: I have been so busy I fear I 
am neglecting you. Immediately after our return we 
took up famine-relief work for the Hanyang women. 
Neither Lyde nor I wanted to take the time from our 
mission work, but there was no one else to do it, and 
it seemed it must be done, so we must perforce do it. 
Perhaps you perceive that missionaries cannot pick 
and choose their work. 

We cleared out three large wards in the hospital. 
Lyde took charge of the workrooms for the first few 
days, while Mrs. Wan and I went out investigating 
the circumstances of the women who had applied for 
work. We wanted to make sure that they were so 
poor that they needed to have the wonderful privilege 
of working seven hours a day for one hundred and 
twenty cash — less than five cents gold. We were al- 
most mobbed by women begging for the chance. I 
think fully a thousand women asked for work, some of 
them even getting down on their knees to beseech us 
to let them come. We had so few helpers that we could 
not take more than two hundred. I tramped around all 
that week, first with Mrs. Wan, and then when she 
was needed to help Lyde in the rooms, with Mr. Lan. 
Mrs. Wan said she was so glad that Lyde wanted her, 

[ 173 ] - 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



for her feet were blistered trying to walk as fast as I 
did. We went all over the city, and through the burned 
section in the west suburb, and even miles out into the 
country. 

It would require a volume to tell half the sad stories 
we heard, of people who have lost their all, of fathers 
and husbands and sons who left home and have never 
been heard from since, of widows and orphans with no 
means of support. War is cruel, cruel, cruel. 

The work has been hard because so many of our 
church women who could have helped have not re- 
turned from the country. It is a significant fact that 
among over two hundred women we did not find one 
who was not a Christian who was sufficiently capable 
and trustworthy so that we could make her a helper. 
We cannot trust the others to handle the materials, and 
they are incapable of supervising others. It does vex 
me to have to guard constantly against thieving. Even 
the thread is measured out, allowing so many yards 
to make a garment. The most interesting room is one 
where nine old women sit spinning thread at their old- 
fashioned spinning-wheels. I wish I could have a pic- 
ture of them. I insist that the famine-relief work has 
nothing to do with the mission, but we have invited 
the women to go to our meetings, and many come 
every Sunday. 

Lyde has received news from Mrs. Liu, the hospital 
matron. When we left Hanyang she was with her 
brother and his wife on their way to the country. The 
brother's wife was taken with the pangs of confine- 

[174] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



ment on the boat. When the boat-master learned what 
was the trouble he put in to shore, and made them get 
off there in a country place where there was no house 
near. San Nai-nai had convulsions and was near death. 
The husband was forced to leave Mrs. Liu alone with 
her while he went in search of shelter. He went to two 
or three houses, but the people refused to take them in. 
Then he inquired for the home of a church-member. 
He was directed to a L. M. S. family. When he ex- 
plained the situation they told him to bring his wife 
there, and there they stayed for three weeks, until 
San Nai-nai was able to travel. That is what Chris- 
tianity does for people's superstitions. No one but 
a Christian would have taken them in. Kuan-Teh has 
returned. He is only fifteen years old, but when the 
war broke out he could not get to his mother, and he 
did not know what else to do, so he joined the army. 
Mrs. Liu has had great difficulty in securing his dis- 
charge. He says that in his regiment some of the 
soldiers would dig out the hearts and livers of executed 
men and eat them, because it would make them brave. 
China is the oldest civilized country, but this shows 
what civilization without Christianity is. 

News has come of riots in Tientsin and Peking. The 
constant disturbances keep us on the qui v'vue all the 
time. It is not the riots we fear, although they may 
come. But the very words " consular advice " strike 
terror to our hearts. We are so afraid that the consul 
may advise us to leave Hanyang again. Lyde and I 
tie our hair up with pretty pink or blue ribbons every 

[ *75 ] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 






night, so if rioters come we will look so " fetching " 
we'll fetch them instead of their fetching us. We have 
packed our suit-cases again in case of having to leave 
suddenly. The rulers are doing all they can to insure 
the safety of foreigners. China has had to pay too 
dearly for injury to the stranger within her gates to 
wish ever to repeat the injury. But the fact remains 
that any one who wishes to make trouble for the gov- 
ernment knows that nothing will do that more surely 
than to harm the foreigners. Then, in the present 
unsettled condition of affairs, if a mob gets started any- 
thing might happen. Do not think from this that we 
are nervous and anxious. Probably there will be no 
further serious trouble. The many plots and incipient 
insurrections are always nipped in the bud. Sometimes 
there are executions on the drill-ground back of our 
compound. I am thankful to say that they have been 
at night when we did not know. 

Sun Yat Sen has resigned as Provisional President 
of the Republic, and Yuan Shi Kai has been inaugu- 
rated at Peking. Perhaps this will have a quieting ef- 
fect. People here do not seem especially jubilant, 
and do not think that peace is permanent. 

Thousands of soldiers are quartered in Hanyang. 
The large guild hall next us is used as a barracks, also 
the yamen and the government school between here and 
the hospital. At first the soldiers were sometimes rude 
to us, but since they know of our " good works " there 
has not been an insulting word. Frequently, however, 
they make night hideous for us. The other nigfrt we 

[176] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



heard screams and shouting in the guild hall. Next 
day we heard that three women were dragged in there 
during the night. Two men who went in to try to 
rescue them were shot, and before morning one of the 
women died. 

Soldiers drill on the drill-ground from early morn- 
ing until dark. Our slumbers are disturbed every 
morning at three or four o'clock by the buglers be- 
ginning to blow their horns. 

One day Mr. Gage went into a temple. One of the 
priests said he was coming here to learn the foreign 
doctrine, because the people will not listen to' the Bud- 
dhist doctrine any more. In many places the soldiers 
have taken the idols out of the temples and destroyed 
them. But the Five Hundred God Temple near here 
was partially destroyed by fire when the city was 
burned, and already the people are repairing the tem- 
ple, and replacing the idols. However, I have seen 
no new door-gods on the houses this Chinese New 
Year. 

Pao Chen has gone home to be married. He is only 
nineteen years old and he did not seem very eager, 
but the girl's parents have been urging it for some 
time. 

If I don't leave you soon the buglers will be bugling, 
so good night. 

Jane. 



[i77l 



XLI 



Hanyang, March 15. 

Betsey mine : It is a cold, blustery March day, and 
there is snow on the ground. A heavy wind-storm 
came up in the night Monday, and we were wakened 
by the shouting of the people who live on the river flats 
and in the boats. They were crying, " Kiu ming! Kiu 
ming! (Save life! Save life!)." Boats were capsized 
and people drowned. Mat-sheds were destroyed. In 
the burned section of the city walls were blown over, 
killing many people. 

Lyde had sent for Ma Ta-Ku and Pen Ta-Ku, and 
unfortunately they arrived in Hankow in the midst 
of the storm. They remained on the boat until Tuesday 
afternoon, then decided to walk over, as no rowboats 
would -venture on the river. They blew in on us after 
dark, soaking wet and breathless from their struggle 
through the wind and rain and mud. They wear their 
hair a new style, and have gained poise and independ- 
ence from their sojourn in Shanghai. I foresee al- 
ready that it may be more difficult to have the care of 
young girls in the New China than it was under the 
old regime. 

We closed the famine-relief work yesterday. Had a 
sale and sold the garments that had been made at less 
than the cost of the material. 

[178] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



March 21. I have been out calling on the church- 
members this week, and have heard so many tales of 
danger and suffering. One old woman over seventy 
lives in a large mat-shed with another woman older and 
more decrepit than herself. There are big holes in the 
matting which let in wind and rain and snow. They 
have no fire except a few coals in a tiny sort of brazier 
when they wish to cook their rice. The other old 
woman was lying on the table, because she thought it 
was warmer there than in the tiny bedroom. They 
could not run away when Hanyang was taken by the 
Imperialists. Pao Peo-peo told me how she saved five 
lives on that awful day of the evacuation of Hanyang. 
She took a long bamboo pole and stood down on the 
river-bank. Then when a boat would capsize she 
would hold it out to the men who could not swim, and 
she helped five men out of the water in this way. 
Three of them were Revolutionary soldiers. They 
feared they would be put to death if they were taken 
by the Imperialists. They begged Pao Peo-peo to 
save them. They thought if she would say they were 
her sons and would plead for their lives they might be 
spared. She said she knew it was wicked to tell a 
lie, but she could not give these men over to be 
executed, so she kneeled down and asked the Lord to 
forgive her for the lie she was going to tell. Then 
when the Imperialists came to search the house and 
found the men there she told them that one was her 
son and the other two her grandsons, and that she had 
no one else to support her. She went with them to 

[179] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the officer and begged that their lives might be spared, 
and her plea was granted. What would you have said 
to such a story? I refrained from comment. 

One of the Boarding School girls came yesterday. 
Her people were well-to-do; they have lost home and 
everything except the clothes they were wearing. Two 
old women servants of the family were taking the three 
daughters to the country when the war started. The 
boatmen threw the two> old women into the river, and 
were going to take the girls no one knows where, but 
the women promised them all they possessed if their 
lives were spared, and the men took them back into 
the boat. Some of the girls have been here to beg that 
we open the school immediately; if we do not, their 
parents will marry them and then they can never study 
any more. We cannot bear to lose our girls, but still 
the consul remains obdurate, and refuses to consent 
to my making myself responsible for a lot of girls in 
a military center like Hanyang, until things are more 
settled. I We have opened the day-schools with the 
nurses as teachers. 

Ever yours, 

Jane. 



[180] 



XLII 



Hanyang, May 10. 

Betsey dear: Your letter telling of Genevieve's 
visit just received. It was a wonderful event to me, 
but you did not seem to realize it, and told so little 
about it. If Genevieve's long letter had not come at 
the same time I should have — not bawled, only because 
I am too old. I have come to the age where I must put 
away childish things such as weeping when home let- 
ters do not come, or do not tell all I wish to know. 

We finally gave up hope of opening the Boarding 
School this spring, so opened it as a day-school. 
Twenty of the old pupils are back. Some take their 
meals at the school, but none sleep there. Lyde and 
I share the work. I have all the women's meetings go- 
ing again. They are well attended everywhere but in 
Hankow. The women of that neighborhood have not 
yet returned from the country. I have been walking to 
all the meetings. It means six miles the day I go to 
Chih-li-miao. I don't know that I can do it when it 
grows warmer. To-day Lyde came home from the 
hospital, looking so limp and white. 

Mrs. Tsao has returned, and we have called on many 
of the women who were in the famine-relief work. 
One day Lui Ta-Peo went with me to call on some peo- 
ple in the country. You would expect to find the coun- 

[181] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 






try homes more comfortable than those in the city. 
Instead, they seem even more wretched. The little 
children in one of the homes we visited were almost 
naked, and their bodies covered with scabs and sores. 

I am spending all my spare evenings studying and 
writing Chinese. I do feel such a Chinese ignoramus. 
Knowing things in English does not count unless we 
learn them in Chinese, and a lifetime is too short to 
learn it all in Chinese. If I am here twenty years I 
expect to study always. 

Buggy time has come. To-night the diversion is 
millers, which buzz worse than a bumblebee. I have 
killed twelve, counting those which had to be killed 
twice or thrice before they would stay dead. The 
corpses of the whole family, six, are now stretched 
out on the floor, and for the moment quiet reigns ex- 
cept for the mosquitoes buzzing round. 

Our latest trouble is a miserable coolie, who claims 
that before Pen Ta-Ku's mother died she engaged Pen 
Ta-Ku to him. We know the story is false, and he 
has no evidence, but he seems very determined, and 
declares that he will kidnap her if he cannot get her any 
other way. It sounds like melodrama, but he threatens 
to bring a crowd of men to help him get her away, 
and we are sufficiently disturbed so that we keep a 
close guard over her. Mr. Gage has sent a man up to 
the leper asylum, some distance from here, where her 
stepfather is, to see what evidence we can secure from 
him. A young man who belongs to the Episcopal 
mission has been to call on me, suing for her hand. 

[182] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



They have never seen each other, but his sister wa,s in 
the Shanghai hospital where Pen Ta-Ku was, and be- 
came so fond of her that she wants her for a sister. 

May 16. Several days have gone, but your letter 
hasn't. Lyde was called to Ruling to help care for 
one of our West China missionaries who had small- 
pox. He had passed away before she reached there, 
but she is remaining in case others may develop the 
disease. I am alone in the house, except that I have 
one of the old women servants from the school sleep 
here as chaperon. One day I went to Hankow I 
started to speak Chinese to the English clerks in the 
stores, because I have spoken it so constantly since 
Lyde left. 

The young Episcopal clergyman has proposed to Pen 
Ta-Ku, by proxy, and been accepted, by proxy. I do 
not oppose the engagement, for I fear that if she does 
not accept this man she may be forced into a marriage 
with that coolie. The stepfather says that she was 
never promised to him, and we know from the testi- 
mony of others that he has no claim on her. Her ac- 
ceptance of the clergyman did not seal the engagement. 
As Lyde was away, I had to play the part of mother 
to her. I bought presents for her to give him. He 
bought presents to give her. We chose a middleman, 
and he chose a middleman, and the two middlemen met 
here. His name and her name with the dates of their 
birth were written on two slips of red paper in the 
presence of witnesses, and the gift's were exchanged. 

[183] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



I gave a feast to the women and he gave a feast to the 
men, and we all rejoiced. According to old custom 
Pen Ta-Ku should have been off weeping and wailing 
while we feasted. Her fiance invited Mrs. Wan and 
me to an after- feast. When we went in he bowed Japa- 
nese fashion. He explained that according to Chinese 
custom he should kow-tow, but he was adopting Euro- 
pean dress and foreign politeness for the day. 

Another engagement! Mrs. Liu brought in the 
presents of paper flowers and cakes to announce the 
engagement of her nephew to one of the nurses, Shen 
Ta-Ku. The young man is one of Doctor Lane's 
nurses and a fine-appearing fellow, so we are pleased 
over the plans. But what will Doctor Lessey do for 
nurses when she returns to open the hospital? This 
couple are inclined to do the affair up in foreign style 
rather more than we wish, but they are fairly discreet 
in their conduct. 

I hope Lyde will soon return. I need her to help 
share my problems and perplexities. And I am rather 
lonely without her. I do not think there have been 
half a dozen foreigners here besides the Gages since 
our return from Hankow. Two sailors from the gun- 
boat called one afternoon, and some friends from Wu 
Chang were over, and we went there for dinner 
once, but our social festivities are not likely to wear 
us out. Still, my life is not monotonous. Sometimes 
I think it quite the reverse when I hear what that 
coolie contemplates doing. Lovingly, 

Jane. 
[184] 



XLIII 



Dearly loved sister, Great Person, highly 
exalted : ( I ought to add that I bend my knee to you, 
but I don't, so I won't). I humbly begin. Several days 
ago I received a precious letter telling of the good 
preservation of your pearly body. It gives exceeding 
pleasure to learn of the well-being of your exalted self. 

Lyde returned early in the month. Now I am in 
the midst of examinations in all three schools. They 
close this week, and we soon go to Kuling. I have 
been trying to get my clothes in order so that new- 
comers to China will not think I came out of the ark. 
I have reshaped and retrimmed a summer hat, and 
to my unsophisticated taste it looks quite stylish, but 
how will it look when I get to Kuling? 

We are having very hot weather, the thermometer 
up nearly to one hundred in the shade for several days. 
That seems hotter here than at home, because it is 
very humid, and as you know, the sun is almost 
tropical in its effect. 

We have had a baptismal service, at which thirty- 
one were baptized. Do you remember my writing of 
Liu Yu-Yin, the girl whose brother is in Denison? 
She was baptized. Her parents have consented to her 
never being married if she will support herself. She 
plans to go to the hospital and train as a nurse when 

[185] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



her education is sufficient. Dr. Mary Stone, one of the 
first Chinese women to be graduated as physician, says 
that old maids are a product of Christianity. Yu-Yin 
is our first product in that line, and I hope she will be 
one of the kind of old maids that China stands greatly 
in need of. 

The consul and his sister were here for tiffin one 
day. It made a pleasant break in the daily routine. 

Written expressly to wish you peace. 

Your honorable person's without-knowledge sister, 

KEO JEN-L<I. 

In Hanyang, sixth month, twenty-seventh day, 
written. 



[186] 



XLIV 



Ruling, August 25. 

Dear Betsey : Doctor and Mrs. Murray are sharing 
the bungalow with Lyde and me this summer. The 
weather has been almost perfect, and we have had a 
delightful vacation. It is well for us to get away from 
our worries and problems occasionally and get a new 
perspective. Our fight is against " powers, and prin- 
cipalities, and the rulers of the darkness of this world," 
and sometimes the conflict is so severe that we become 
tired and discouraged, and forget that victory is sure 
to those who fight with the Lord of hosts. Now I have 
my armor buckled on and am ready to go back. 
We start for home day after to-morrow. 

China seems more unsettled than when we came to 
the hills, and it is difficult to plan for the future. 

August 28. On board} S. S. Kinling. History re- 
peats itself. We had to start out in the rain, and walk 
down to' the Estate Office yesterday morning, just as 
Genevieve and I did three years ago. But we were 
fortunate in getting coolies soon, and were down at the 
Rest House (a misnomer!) in Kiu Kiang early. It 
was too hot to go on the street until nearly sundown. 
Then we went to* see the famous Kiu Kiang china- 
shops. Alas! They are full of hideous " new-fash- 

N [ 187 ] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



ioned " dishes. Tea- and rice-bowls instead of being 
decorated with the beautiful old Chinese colors and 
designs have the flags of the Republic, or supposedly 
foreign flowery patterns in glaring colors. 

We ate our lunch on the balcony at the Rest House, 
overlooking a little inlet of the river. It was crowded 
with sailboats and junks. It was the fifteenth day of 
the old Chinese month, which has been abolished; the 
superstition connected with the day has not been 
abolished, for on one boat after another firecrackers 
were set off and gongs were beaten, creating such a din 
as certainly should have driven away any evil spirits 
hovering near. On the street below us was a perfect 
babel of voices. At dark we went down to the Bund, 
where we waited till nearly midnight for our steamer to 
come. Now Hankow is in sight. So good-bye. 



Jane. 



[188] 



XLV 



Hanyang, October 12. 

Beloved Betsey : Everything has gone swimmingly 
so far as opening schools is concerned. We just came 
home and opened the Boarding School and the Wom- 
en's Bible School, and the consul did not say a word. 
I could not have the women's school at the Shuang 
Kiai now. That is too far away. So I rented a 
Chinese house across the street from us. It is semi- 
foreign, and has glass windows and a fairly safe stair- 
way. But the smoke from the Chinese stove nearly 
blinds us, and the floor is packed earth. 

We went over to Wu Chang for the celebration of 
the end of the first year of the Republic. They count 
from the day of the outbreak in Wu Chang. The exer- 
cises were very interesting. There was even a speech 
by a young Chinese woman from Peking. You see, 
women are to have their place in the New China. We 
went to a reception at Vice-president Li's home in the 
yamen. His first wife is too conservative to appear 
in a mixed company, but his second wife received with 
him, and they shook hands foreign style. He was in 
military dress, and she in foreign dress also. It is not 
half so becoming as Chinese dress. 

Day and night I thanked God for Mrs. Wan. She is 
a perfect treasure. I do not know what we would do 

[189] 






LETTERS TO BETSEY 



without her in the school. She takes much of the re- 
sponsibility. With teaching, meetings, and all the re- 
sponsibility that goes with the schools my time is well 
occupied without leaving any for the extras, such as 
keeping accounts, paying salaries, receiving calls, cor- 
respondence, and the many other demands. Pao Chen 
practically runs the house when it is my turn to be 
housekeeper. Please do not wait for my letters. Be a 
good girl and write often, even if I do not. 

Your loving 

Jane. 



[190] 



XLVI 



Hanyang, November 16. 

A merry, merry Christmas to you, Betsey. My 
Christmas lasts longer than yours does. At the hills in 
July and August I make my gifts. For weeks I have 
given my spare moments, which are few, you know, 
to wrapping them. And now I must send my Christ- 
mas letters off as quickly as possible. It will be weeks 
after the momentous day before all my Christmas mail 
is received, so you see the pleasure is prolonged through 
most of the year. When I see anything I can use as a 
gift, I buy it on the spot, for I may never have the 
chance again. 

We have had three cold, dreary, dismal days. " It 
rains, and the wind is never weary." But we have a 
nice grate fire in Lyde's room, and it is lovely when 
we have time to sit by it for a few minutes. That is 
not often, for we are both out every evening, either at 
the schools or the church. Fortunately our thoughts 
do not have much time to cling to the moldering past, 
so the hopes of our youth are not falling as fast as 
the leaves outside. Still, I have discovered that it 
does not require much time for one's thoughts to cling 
to the past. Perhaps this is especially true at the 
Christmas season. The memories of past Christmases 
meet me at every turn. Do you remember the year you 

[I9i] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



were a tiny tot and were so afraid of Santa in his furs 
and bells? And the year they gave us the beautiful 
doll-house ? Sometimes when I think of how far away 
I am from home and loved ones and all that pertains to 
the days of " auld lang syne," such a revulsion of feel- 
ing sweeps over me that I am tempted to say, " I can- 
not stand it any longer." Then a realization of the 
wonderful privilege of my " high calling " steals into 
my heart, and I know that I can never leave this work 
until God's call to do so is very clear. 

Pen Ta-Ku is safely married, despite the continued 
threats of that coolie. Of course the Christian cere- 
mony was used, so Pen Ta-Ku thought she must wear 
a white veil and have bridesmaids, foreign fashion. It 
was a pretty wedding, but it would have seemed 
strange to you to see the people who crowded in off the 
street — barefoot coolies and slovenly women with dirty 
children clinging to them. At the feast the men ate 
in one room and the women in another. It was all so 
different from a wedding in America. 

Robberies and incendiary fires are the order of the 
day, or more properly speaking, of the night A 
fire in a Chinese city is a fearsome event. We are 
frequently awakened at night by the howling of the 
mobs as they fight the fires. A riot in Wu Chang has 
made the people here fearful of trouble. Soldiers go 
about the city at night in search of suspected rebels. 
Occasionally a robber is caught, and then I am awa- 
kened in the morning by the sound of shouting and 
shooting on the drill-ground, and know that another 

[192] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



man has paid the penalty of sin by death. The execu- 
tions are public, and even tiny tots four or five years 
old run to see the headless bodies. It cannot but have 
a brutalizing effect upon them. 

In Sunday-school one day I emphasized the impor- 
tance of our telling others what God has done for us. 
At the women's meeting last Thursday Mrs. Tsao read 
of the raising of Lazarus. Then she said she had a 
strange affair which she felt that the Lord wanted her 
to tell to the women. She said that over twenty years 
ago she died, just as Lazarus did, and was dead for 
two days. The relatives dressed her in her grave- 
clothes, and made all preparations for the burial. She 
knew nothing of what was going on around her, but 
in this space of time she saw hell and heaven. First 
she was in black darkness, and was terribly frightened. 
Then suddenly heaven opened up before her. The 
glory was indescribable, and there were beings which 
she now thinks were the angels. Before her was a 
building of such magnificence as she can never have 
seen in life. There were three entrances. She went to 
the first, but was told to leave. At the second was a 
great person with a book before him, the leaves of 
which he was rapidly turning. He told her she could 
not enter. At that time she had never heard the Chris- 
tian doctrine. Now she believes that it was Jesus she 
saw, that the book was the Book of Life, and that God 
mercifully restored her to life so that she might be 
saved. Otherwise she would have spent eternity in 
hell. Now she knows the Saviour, and when she dies 

[193] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



will go to heaven. When she had finished, one of the 
women said with conviction, " I believe what you say, 
for I was dead myself once." 

Lyde and I went to Hankow one day last week to 
take tiffin with three L. M. S. young women. One of 
them recently came from India. She knows several of 
my acquaintances there. So many of the people we 
meet here have traveled to the ends of the earth, and 
conversation as well as thought travels fast and far. 



With tons of love, 



Jane. 



[ 194] 



XLVII 



Hanyang, Christmas Day. 

Betsey dear: We were awakened this morning by 
strains of a Christmas carol. It was still dark, the 
^ers came nearer and nearer, and stopped under our 
dows. We went out on the balcony and threw 
m mandarin oranges to them. Then the girls went 
to serenade the others on the compound. At morn- 
chapel exercises Pastor Tsao appeared in his 
ttiest gown and garnet silk jacket in honor of the 
. He talked on the text : " Glory to God in the 
hest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." 
told of the girls serenading him, and how he wanted 
ioin in the hymn, but could not, so he just clapped 
hands, and said, " Praise God ! Praise God ! " At 
close of his talk the chapel door swung open, and 
talked his wife and daughter with trays piled full 
Chinese goodies for the school children. It was 
pastor's own idea, and his treat. This was the first 
istmas some of our children had known. Oh, 
/e can only teach them the real meaning of the day 
. of God's gift to us ! 

Ve gave parties to the Bible-school women and to 

schoolgirls before they went home for the holi- 

s. It was a perfect joy to see some of the women 

^ring into a frolic, perhaps for almost the first time 

[195] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



in their lives. At the girls' party, after the games and 
refreshments, Pao Chen appeared at the door in a 
postman's uniform, which we had borrowed for the 
occasion. His mail-bag was full to overflowing with 
various-sized and shaped packages. (Each contained 
a handkerchief and a cheap baby-pin. ) The distribu- 
tion of the mail made fun for everybody. Strange to 
say, the postman returned in a few minutes, and this 
time the mail was all for Lyde and me, gifts from the 
girls and the teachers. 

The school entertainments were very good. For 
the first time since I came to China I was able to secure 
a Christmas program without translating for myself. 
I used to have great times with my teacher, putting 
things into Chinese rhymes. It is easier to train 
Chinese girls than American girls, so do not think you 
have a monopoly of all the bright intellects on that 
side of the water. Now there are only four of us, 
we must depend upon the Chinese for social festivities. 

The five years for which Ma Ta-Ku was promised 
to the hospital are passed. Now we have no recourse 
but to give her back to the parents of her fiance. Poor 
girl, she has thought of every plan to escape this obnox- 
ious marriage. She says, " I cannot marry that thief." 
Some time ago the missionaries did try to buy her, 
offering a large sum, according to Chinese ideas, but 
the people refused because it would mean a loss of face 
if she would not marry the son. The relatives have 
threatened to kill her if she does not marry this man. 
In fact, the poor girl is sometimes almost ready to 

[196] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



commit suicide rather than do it. But we have tried 
to show her that under the circumstances her duty is 
to acquiesce, that in some way God will work good for 
her out of even this great trouble. But how our hearts 
do ache for her! Oh, it is cruel to see a splendid 
girl, such as she is, forced to throw her life away on 
that miserable fellow. I tremble for her, for after 
all we have said she still replies, " I cannot do it." Her 
future mother-in-law is an old termagant. She is to 
come for Ma Ta-Ku to-morrow. 

January I, ip 13. She is married. Mrs, Wan, 
Lyde, and I went to the wedding to-day. Pastor Tsao 
married them with the Christian ceremony. When it 
came to the question, " Do you take this man to be your 
wedded husband?" (perhaps that is not the exact 
phraseology; I never studied the marriage ceremony, 
as I have had no use for it ; but you know what I mean) , 
he asked, " Are you pleased to take this man ? " Poor 
Ma Ta-Ku, that was too much for her. She began to 
twitch, and made no reply. Pastor Tsao said, " If you 
do, you may nod your head." I did not see her nod, 
but he continued the ceremony and pronounced them 
husband and wife. Ma Ta-Ku was heroic, and every- 
body pretended to be happy, but we knew it was only 
pretense. 

Your lovingest 

Jane. 



[197] 



XL VIII 



Hanyang, February 2.7, 19 13. 

Dear Betsey : I am nearly frozen. I have been sit- 
ting all day in the cold schoolroom giving examinations. 
I dread these examinations in the day-schools. We 
have no heat in the Bible school, either, but when I am 
teaching I become so absorbed in my work that I 
forget how cold I am. The meetings do not last so 
many hours, but when I sit all day long giving exam- 
inations I positively suffer with the cold. How can 
the Chinese live through the winter months with never 
a place to get warm? They do suffer. Nearly every- 
body has dreadful chilblains, their hands and ears as 
well as their feet all broken out in running sores. 

Doctor Lessey and Miss Thomas have returned from 
furlough. They were delayed because of the un- 
settled condition of the country last autumn. Lyde has 
moved back to the hospital compound with Doctor 
Lessey, and they have opened the hospital. Miss 
Thomas has taken charge of the women's evangelistic 
work, and I am giving all my time to the schools and 
the Sunday-schools. We have fifty-five girls in the 
Boarding School this term. It is very crowded, as the 
building and grounds are small, but I cannot refuse 
a girl who is in earnest in wanting an education, if it 
is possible to let her come. We have been forced to 

[198] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



refuse thirty girls who applied for admission. With 
many of them it means that they are sent back to 
heathen homes, where they will never have an oppor- 
tunity to learn of the Saviour or the way of eternal life. 
Betsey, it is heart-breaking to see the needs and op- 
portunities all around us, and then be constantly tram- 
meled and held back from grasping the opportunities 
because of lack of funds. Our appropriations are cut 
down to the last cent, and there are so many demands 
that we cannot make up all the lack even when we do 
not give anything for work in other parts of the world. 
For instance, I should open a girl's day-school in 
each of our outstations. But how can I do it on my 
meager salary ? I cannot, and those girls are growing 
up just as their mothers did, in appalling ignorance, 
superstition, and degradation. Oh, when will Chris- 
tian people awake to the meaning of the Great Com- 
mission ? Do you know, Betsey, that the Christian de- 
nominations of the world are holding me responsible 
for the evangelization of nearly two hundred thou- 
sand souls in China? Do you believe that God holds 
me responsible for more people than I can ever reach 
with the gospel ? I don't. I believe that some of the 
Christian people in America who are holding on to* the 
" tithes and offerings " that belong to the Lord, and 
whose highest aim- is to be wafted to the skies on 
flowery beds of ease, are the ones whom God holds 
responsible. But nevertheless, when we see souls who 
will be lost for eternity because we cannot give them 
the knowledge of the way of salvation, it is not easy 

[ 199] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



to retrench. That is what we are always told to do, 
every single year. 

I am enjoying the school work. It is restful to have 
most of my work on the compound, and not have to go 
on the streets and see the sickening sights and smell the 
vile smells. But even on the compound we do not es- 
cape all the unpleasantness. There are frequent execu- 
tions on the drill-ground, in plain view from our house. 
Sometimes the bodies lie there for hours. One day when 
Lyde was coming over here she was right upon the 
bodies of three men who had been executed before she 
realized what had happened. She actually walked be- 
tween the heads and the bodies. It was such a shock 
to her, as you can imagine it would be. They were 
three privates who killed a man on the river between 
here and Wu Chang. Often the soldiers take out the 
hearts and livers and eat them. One afternoon I was 
standing on the up-stairs veranda watching a com- 
pany of soldiers marching to music with flying colors. 
I supposed it was some gala occasion. Suddenly several 
men ran out ahead of the others, the soldiers began 
shooting, and before I realized what was happening 
six men had been shot down and I saw the executioner 
step forward with his long knife and chop off the head 
of one. Betsey, such experiences are too dreadful to 

tell about. 

Jane. 



[ 200] 



XLIX 



Hanyang, March 15. 

Betsey : You need not expect that I shall ever asso- 
ciate with you on terms of equality again. I'll never 
do it, so you need not ask it of me. I have been too 
highly honored to-day to think of being classed with 
common ordinary mortals sich as the likes o' you. I 
have just returned from Wu Chang, where the Vice- 
president of the Chinese Republic, General Li Yuan 
Hung, bestowed upon me a bronze medal in recognition 
of my " bravery and self-sacrifice " in caring for the 
wounded during the recent revolution, so now although 
I am not the real " Lady of the Decoration " I am 
a lady with a real decoration ; two in fact, for I received 
a medal from the Chinese Red Cross Society last 
summer. 

Lyde and I were invited to go to Wu Chang to-day 
to receive our medals from the hand of Vice-president 
Li. It rained, and the mud is (something less than) 
knee-deep, but we would not have missed going for 
anything. Everybody who was in the Red Cross work 
in this center received a medal — gold ones to the 
officers of the society, silver to doctors, and bronze to 
the nurses. It was a very cosmopolitan affair. Eng- 
lish, French, Americans, Germans, Russians, Italians, 
Japanese, Swedes, and Chinese were present and re- 

[201] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



ceived recognition of their services in the Red Cross 
work. The Vice-president was accompanied by a 
guard of soldiers. He still lives in Wu Chang, as the 
government fears that if he should leave here and go 
to Peking there would be an immediate outbreak. It 
seems to be only his presence that keeps peace. For 
months he never went outside the yamen, and seldom 
does now. Even to-day it looked for a few moments 
as if there might be trouble. There have been several 
plots to assassinate General Li. Mrs. Wan went over 
to-day and the schoolgirls were quite excited over my 
medal when she told them about it. I think I'll have 
to adopt a granddaughter so I'll have some one to be- 
queath it to when I die. 

Yours, 

Jane. 



[ 202 ] 



Hanyang, June 25. 

Dearest Betsey : I am writing in bed. No, I am 
not ill. This is the only place I can get away from the 
mosquitoes. I have been rereading a letter two weeks 
old. It is the last I had from you, so had to be a sub- 
stitute for the visit I long for. It is four years, nine 
months, and fifteen days since I said good-bye to you. 
I am glad it is so long; aren't you? People used to 
ask, " When did you come ? " Now they say, " When 
are you going home? Your furlough must be nearly 
due." I am sorry to say I am becoming impatient for 
the time to come. When I go out on these dreadful 
streets I long to stroll down a quiet tree-shaded avenue. 
When I go to meeting I wish for a service in one of 
our beautiful home churches with good music and a 
sermon which will lift me nearer God and heaven. 
Do not tell me that America is not paradise. It is, 
compared with China, and just now I have a longing 
for the flesh-pots, I always have a " spell " at this 
time of year. Instead of running a fever as so many 
people do, I become unsettled in my mind, and wish to 
be where I am not, and for the things that are not. 
For days it has been so hot that the butter is like oil, and 
after boiling our drinking-water we cannot get it 
cooler than lukewarm. We cannot eat, and I tantalize 

o [ 203 ] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



myself with the thought of fresh strawberries and ice 
cream. 

It has been a steamy, stifling day. I have been busy 
giving examinations. As usual, some of the girls find 
them as easy as rolling off a log, and others have to 
rack their brains for elusive facts. 

I prepared a pledge which was passed around among 

the older girls. It was a promise to pray and read the 

Bible every day, and to strive to lead one soul to 

Jesus during the vacation. Eleven girls signed it. 

That ought to make me glad I am here instead of in 

America, ought it not? Come to think of it, I believe 

I am! But it is too hot to write about it, so good 

night. 

Jane. 



[204] 



LI 



Chi Kong Shan, July 23. 

My dear Betsey : I am up here in our little hut on 
the hill again. Miss Collins, of Atlanta, is with me. 
I expected to find things in bad shape, for the houses 
here were looted last year. This cottage had been en- 
tered, but no valuables were taken, as there were none 
to take. 

There was talk of an outbreak in Hanyang two 
nights before the school closed. I did not sleep much 
that last night before the girls left. I was listening 
for every sound. Search-lights had been playing over 
Dragon Hill every night for two weeks. The hill has 
been refortified. Fighting began again on the twelfth. 
China has followed America's example in having a 
revolution and becoming a Republic. Now they will 
not be content until they have had a war between the 
North and the South and done the whole business up 
brown. Only they do not intend to take a hundred years 
for it as America did. In Hanyang women are afraid 
to go on the streets, and many people have moved to the 
country. There is fighting between Kiu Kiang and 
Kuling, and Lyde writes of thrilling times, watching 
the battles from the top of the mountain. She tells 
sad stories about the people who have been driven out 
of their homes with nothing to keep them from starva- 

[205] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



tion. Poor, distracted China! How long must such 
things be? How long must we wait for our Lord's 
return to set up his kingdom upon earth? I believe 
that nothing less than the coming of the Prince of 
Peace will bring lasting peace to China. Come quickly, 
Lord Jesus! 

My next-door neighbors traveled eight days by sail- 
boat and a day and a night by train to get here. If 
I had to work so hard as that for a vacation I think 
I would never take one. But of course they must have 
a change sometimes. If they didn't, they'd go crazy! 
They have had most heartrending times working among 
the famine sufferers. 

Only a few weeks till Genevieve comes. Don't you 
wish you could be here for the wagging of tongues? 



Jane. 



[206] 



LII 



Hanyang, September 6. 

Dear Betsey : Genevieve arrived last Saturday. We 
have been chattering like magpies ever since. She is 
delighted to be back. And her clothes ! Lyde and I 
sit and gaze at her in dumb admiration. Sometimes 
she becomes somewhat restive under such excessive 
appreciation of her style, but we just can't help it. 

I came down on the twenty-sixth. I had heard that 
the new revolutionists were planning an attack on the 
Hanyang armory and I was not eager to come down 
and be the only foreigner in Hanyang, but Genevieve 
might arrive any day that week, and it would hardly 
do to have her come all the way from America and 
find a locked house and no one to meet her, so I came. 
Fortunately General Li heard of the planned attack 
four hours before it was to occur. He sent a regiment 
of soldiers from Wu Chang. They surrounded the 
armory, and took all the soldiers there prisoners. The 
next morning there were twenty heads hanging along 
the wall outside the armory. On this side the hill all 
was quiet, and I did not know what had happened 
until morning. 

This afternoon we went over to the hospital com- 
pound. As we passed the guild hall next door, now 
used as a soldiers' barracks, Genevieve grabbed my 

[207] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



arm, and I thought from her looks she was going to 
faint. I looked for the cause. It was a man's head 
hanging in a basket over the gate into the hall. She 
could scarcely believe when I told her about the soldiers 
eating the hearts and livers of men who have been 
executed. Yet we know it is true, not only from the 
testimony of the Chinese, but Lyde one day met some 
soldiers after an execution carrying the hearts and 
livers back to the barracks. Yet professedly Christian 
people ask why they should send the gospel to the 
Chinese. They say: " They have their own religions, 
which are better suited to them than the Christian re- 
ligion." If only the people who say that had to live 
for a year under the conditions which have resulted 
from these religions there would be a radical change in 
their point of view. 

I had a very exciting adventure on my way home 
from Chi Kong Shan. Mrs. Wan went up to spend a 
week with me. On the way home in the train there 
were €ome men in our compartment, and as they were 
next the windows I did not watch the depots. The 
train was late, and as we wanted to be home before 
dark Mrs. Wan noticed every station as we neared 
Hankow. At last she said, " Only five minutes more 
and we shall be there," and at the next stop, " Here 
we are." There are two depots in Hankow, built most 
alike, and with a picket fence which shuts off the 
view. The first one is the one that is marked Hankow 
on the sign, but we leave the train at the second, three 
miles farther on. I had written for two servants to 

[208] 





te - V "K 




■'- ° - : v > / 


. . " ■ \„ ■*** 


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at*, .w ^ 


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MRS. WAN 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



meet us, and for them to have baggage-coolies and boat 
engaged so there need be no delay, so when Mrs. Wan 
announced, " Here we are," I looked out for the serv- 
ants. They were not there. Mrs. Wan said she would 
go and tell Pao Chen that they had not come, and I 
stayed in the compartment with our hand-baggage. 

The moment Mrs. Wan had left me it popped into 
my head, " This is the wrong depot." I ran out to call 
her, but it was too late. The train had started and she 
dared not jump on. The servants were waiting for 
us at the right depot. I inquired if there was any way 
for Mrs. Wan to come in except walking. No. Any 
way except the railroad track? No. I was not sure 
that she had money enough with her to get over to 
Hanyang. Besides this, the Northern soldiers were 
encamped along the railroad. For weeks the Hanyang 
women have been afraid to go on the streets in day- 
time. What might not happen to a lone Chinese woman 
walking down a railroad track after dark? I decided 
to leave Pao Chen and the school coolie to bring the 
baggage over, and I took the other servant (a man 
I didn't know, by the way), and walked back to meet 
Mrs. Wan. 

We walked, and walked, and walked. It was so dark 
that I was afraid of missing Mrs. Wan, even if we 
should meet her. The servant walked on one side the 
track and I on the other. At first there were houses 
or mat-sheds on either side, and shops with torchlike 
lights from wicks burning in bowls of oil. Then we 
left the city behind. It became so dark we could 

[209] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



scarcely see our way. We crossed two high bridges, 
and I feared I would make a misstep, and fall between 
the trestles. There were not even the soldiers, and I 
almost wished to come to an encampment. The last 
half of the way I felt it was foolish to go on, yet would 
not turn back, for I thought something might have de- 
layed Mrs. Wan. At last we could see the station lights 
glimmering through the darkness ever so far in the 
distance. It seemed I would never reach there. 

A big train-load of Northern soldiers had come 
down from" Peking that morning. We came to their en- 
campment first. When we reached the depot I inquired 
if any one had seen a Chinese lady get off the train. 
Some one had seen Mrs. Wan start to walk down the 
track toward Hankow. Again I inquired if there were 
sedan-chairs, a rickshaw, or even a lantern to be had. 
No, and I was advised to go back by the railway, as 
there were so many soldiers about, and the country 
roads were very dangerous. There was nothing to do 
but walk back on that track in the darkness. By this 
time it was so dark I could scarcely see my hand be- 
fore my eyes, and I was so tired I felt I could drop. We 
started back. Could we cross the bridges in the dark ? 
And where could Mrs. Wan be? 

We had walked ten or fifteen minutes when I heard 
: a noise behind. It was a hand-car. I said to the 
servant, " Call, and see if they will let us ride." He 
said, " No, they wouldn't." It was almost upon us, 
and I cried impatiently, " Call and see ! Quick ! " So 
he shouted, and they slowed up immediately. He said, 

[210] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



" There is a foreign teacher here." That was suf- 
ficient. They had seen me when I was making in- 
quiries for Mrs. Wan: The three gentlemen on the 
front seat made room for me, the servant got on the 
back, and in no time we were off. 

A nice very young gentleman in a pretty pale blue 
silk gown sat next me. He did just what a nice young 
man at home would do under similar circumstances if 
he feared the girl sitting by him might slip off the 
seat while the car was rushing along through the dark- 
ness. I assure you, Betsey, I was mighty thankful to 
be right there with his arm thrown protectingly around 
me to keep me from falling off. 

As we neared Hankow the men kept up a great 
shouting for people to clear the tracks. On hot nights 
men find the railroad a cool place to lie down and take 
a nap. Some lose their heads, but that doesn't stop 
the practice. One man got off just in time to escape 
being run over. At the depot I thanked the gentle- 
men, and tipped the men who ran the car, then hurried 
off in a rickshaw to the river. Before I alighted from 
the rickshaw I heard Pao Chen's voice calling, " Keo 
Siao-tsieh, Wan S hen-mo fai-liao (Mrs. Wan 'has 
come) ! " She had walked part way, then had left the 
track and taken a rickshaw. While she was bargain- 
ing for a boat in the dark she heard Pao Chen's voice, 
so she called to him. When she found that I had gone 
back for her she told him to wait for me, and she 
started home with the coolie and the baggage. 

Well, I paid an exorbitant price for a boat so we 

[211] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



could get off in a hurry. All went well until we were 
up this side the Han River. There the currrent was 
so swift that even with a sail, a good wind, and two 
men rowing we were making no headway. The river 
was so bad that I was afraid to be on it in the dark, 
so I told them to come in to shore, and we walked the 
rest of the way, a mile and a half. It was after ten 
o'clock. The streets were almost deserted. Many a 
man has lost his head in Hanyang lately because he 
was on the street at night, and was unable to secure wit- 
nesses to prove that he was on legitimate business. 
Sentries were placed every few rods along the way. 
Pao Chen walked ahead and the other servant behind 
me. No one stopped us until we were almost at 
the compound gate. Then two soldiers placed them- 
selves across the street and called us to " Halt! " We 
explained who we were and why we were on the street. 
They immediately stood back for us to pass. The com- 
pound gate was locked, and the gatekeeper asleep. We 
were surprised, as we thought Mrs. Wan would have 
told him to wait for us. But he said she had not come. 
Then we were anxious ! Pao Chen said he would take 
a lantern and go back along the river-bank calling for 
her. But before he got the lantern ready the coolie 
came and said she was in the boat down at the ma-teo. 
I rushed down, and we greeted each other with joy. 
The boat had been stopped twice by the soldiers. We 
had not known that no boats were allowed on the river 
after dark. Wu Han is under strict military rule again. 
Mrs. Wan said, " I have been praying all the time 

[212] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



that God would keep you from worrying about me." 
I replied that I had prayed that God would keep her 
safe, and had felt assured that he would. Now it was 
over, we were both ready to look upon the adventure as 
hao-uan (good sport). But I wouldn't care to have 
another such experience. It was so late that Mrs. Wan 
wouldn't let me open up the house that night. I slept at 
the school. Oh, but it was hot! I never can tell you 
what it seems like to come back to the heat after being 
at the hills a few weeks. Several Chinese families are 
living on the compound, as they have been afraid to 
remain in their homes. Babies cried all night. I did 
not sleep for hours. 

Affectionately, 

Jane. 



[213] 



LIII 



Hanyang, October 27. 

Dear Betsey : This autumn I am going every day to 
the hospital dispensary to talk to the out-patients. Few 
people have clocks, so as soon as they have eaten their 
morning meal the women come, stumping slowly along 
on their tiny bound feet. Often they are here two or 
even three hours before the dispensary opens. While 
they wait the Bible-woman and I have our opportunity 
to talk to them. Many are women who would not come 
to church to hear the gospel. And, oh, how ignorant 
they are ! Sometimes I ask, " Have you ever heard 
of Jesus?" "No." "Do you know about God?" 
"No." "Perhaps you know of the True Spirit?" 
" No." They have all heard of the heavenly Ruler. I 
do not like to use that name, for it is used in their 
heathen worship, but I must begin with something they 
know, so I tell them that this is another name for the 
True Spirit. Then I tell them of the creation and fall 
of man, and of God's love in providing a way of sal- 
vation through his Son. A few plainly show that they 
do not want to " eat the foreign doctrine." Some are 
indifferent, but the large majority listen with interest. 

One day when I spoke of Eve a woman asked, 
" Was she the one that ate the fruit ? " I inquired if 
she went to church, or where she had heard the doc- 

[214] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



trine. She replied that one of her neighbors is a 
church-member. Every day when he has family wor- 
ship he invites the people of the neighborhood to go 
in and hear him read from the Bible. Upon inquiry 
I found that the man is Mr. Uh, the son of the old 
carpenter, of whom I have written. Another woman 
had heard the gospel from her little son, who attends a 
mission school, and every night goes home and tells her 
what he has learned during the day. 

Some most pitiful cases come to the dispensary. 
Many come from long distances out in the country. 
We are having the worst epidemic of smallpox since 
I came to China. There has been one death on the 
compound, the pastor's little grandchild. Thousands 
have died in the three cities. Frequently mothers bring 
babies sick with smallpox to the dispensary. Most of 
the children we see on the streets have monkeys made 
of cloth pinned on their backs. People think that small- 
pox is caused by an evil spirit named Liang-Hang. 
Liang-liang is afraid of monkeys, so the mothers make 
a cloth monkey and pin it on the child's garment to 
scare the spirit away. If a smallpox patient recovers 
the relatives set off firecrackers, burn paper furniture, 
and offer food, thanking Liang-liang for sparing the 
life. If the person dies they still make offerings, but 
they curse and slash with a knife. Poor ignorant peo- 
ple! They cannot believe what we tell them about 
contagion and the need of cleanliness in fighting dis- 
ease. A mother will expose her child to infection, and 
then try to propitiate the spirits. 

[215] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



You can scarcely realize what a hold superstition has 
upon the people. One day a man came to Doctor Lane 
because his shadow had been bitten by a dog. A 
mother, whose baby had died, was in terror until the 
little body had been eaten by the pigs or dogs, because 
the priests had told her that if the body were not eaten 
the child's spirit would always trouble them. This 
superstition in regard to the death of a child is one 
of the most awful things. When the people try to 
turn away from idolatry the priests start all sorts of 
stories to frighten them back into the use of heathen 
rites. When a Christian refuses to join in ancestral 
worship he is accused of lack of filial affection. This is 
one of the hardest tests for the Christians. 

The brigands are causing great trouble now. Last 
week eight missionaries were taken captive by robber 
bands up in Honan. Yesterday we heard of their re- 
lease, but a baby had been killed. Two men had been 
hidden in a strawstack for five days without food. 
Even 4arge cities are terrorized. After paying im- 
mense sums to buy off the robbers, armed bands will 
come, loot the homes, burn the town, and carry off the 
women. I received a letter from a friend in a threat- 
ened city. She says the country people have flocked 
into the city, and they are having wonderful oppor- 
tunities to preach to those who have never heard. 

With love, 

Jane. 



[216] 



LIV 



Hanyang, January 2, 1914. 

My dearest Betsey : Another Christmas and New 
Year past. My next will be at home. The days are 
simply spinning by, and furlough draws near apace. 
Every day is full of plans for the going. I have even 
started to pack one trunk. But my joy in going is 
tinged with regret. I am sad at the thought of leaving 
my friends both among the Chinese and the mission- 
aries. So many people all around us have never heard 
of God's love. I cannot but wonder if I have done all 
I could to make it known to them. 

Often I have been disheartened and weary, but now 
that I am so soon to go I realize that these years in 
China have meant much to my Christian experience. 
It has been a time of " the good hand of my God 
upon me." I also know that the lives of some others 
are richer and better because I came to China. Any 
hardness I have endured or sacrifice I have made seems 
small when I think that because of it some souls will 
spend eternity in glory. I thank God for calling me 
to this work. If I had it all to do over again I would 
do the same thing. I hope that when my furlough is 
past I shall come back to do better work. 

The success of a foreign missionary does not neces- 
sarily depend upon the results that he may see during 

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LETTERS TO BETSEY 



his lifetime, but it is good to see results nevertheless. 
I am so proud of some of our girls. Liu Yu-Yin and 
another of the schoolgirls are in the hospital, training 
as nurses, and they are doing very well. Two of the 
day-schools are being taught by girls who studied in 
the Boarding School. In the women's work there have 
been many changes. Women who when I came could 
not read, can now teach others. Some who would not 
speak or pray in meeting now do both. Others who 
had never heard the gospel are now faithful Christians. 
My Bible-woman is a countrywoman who came to 
Hanyang a few months after I came. She could not 
read and had never heard the gospel. Now she is a 
very earnest worker. I have seen so many changes 
that I can realize what it must mean to missionaries 
who have worked for years in a place to look back 
over the years and compare the things that are with the 
things that were. Every year adds to the lessons in 
faith and trust. 

For the last two weeks a small boy very sick with 
smallpox has been lying on a pile of straw by the road- 
side between here and the hospital. The soldiers from 
the barracks take food to him. Strange to say, in spite 
of the exposure and lack of care he is recovering. 

In dispensary this morning an old woman came up 
and stooped down and examined my shoe, asked what 
kind of a garment my coat was, if I wore a skirt 
under it, if all foreigners wear glasses, and if I ever 
combed my hair. Mrs. Shen told her that I do, some- 
times twice a day if my hat disarranges it. Then she 

[218] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



volunteered the information that the foreigners wash 
their hair with soap. " If we Chinese did that instead 
of using oil on our hair we would have light hair too, 
like the Siao-tsieh has." It is interesting to hear the 
Chinese explaining our foreign customs to one another. 
Once Genevieve heard her teacher telling some one that 
the foreigners have windows to spit out at. This seems 
to be the general notion as to the use of windows, for 
at church in the summer it is not unusual to see an 
old man rise and sedately walk to a window to spit. 

Lovingly, 

Jane. 



[219] 



LV 



Shanghai, February 13. 

Dearest Betsey Girl : I am actually on my way to 
you. I would wish I could fly, only that I want to 
see Europe on the way. It is a slow trip, but just 
think how improved and intellectual I shall be! The 
sad part is that my plans for traveling with a friend 
have fallen through, and I expect to be a lone, lorn 
spinster roaming around Europe in solitary state, try- 
ing to make people understand by means of "Qui" 
"Si," and " Non." That is about all I remember of 
French or Italian. I have my books along, but I know 
I shall not study. I never do anything but loll on ship- 
board. Genevieve says it is a perfect shame to waste 
an ocean voyage on me. I agree with her. Friends 
are going on the same steamer, so I shall have com- 
pany as far as Port Said. I go from there to Palestine. 

On the way down river I visited Dr. Mary Stone's 
hospital. What a wonderful work this plucky little 
Chinese woman is doing ! We don't meet that kind of 
women outside the missions. 

One of the passengers on the boat was a Rumanian 
woman from Shanghai. Her father arranged a mar- 
riage for her with a Frenchman, who speaks only a 
few words of English. She speaks only German and 
English. When they met just before the wedding and 

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LETTERS TO BETSEY 



discovered this discrepancy of languages, he said,. 
" Don't you care." And she said, " I don't care." So 
they were married and went off together. She said 
to me : " You know it's awkward to marry a man, espe- 
cially if you never saw him before." I should think 
it might be ! With love and longing, 

Jane. 



[221 ] 



LVI 



Cairo, Egypt, March 13. 

Dear Betsey : It is late, but I cannot sleep because of 
the strangeness of the street noises. Cars and car- 
riages go dashing by. The black drivers crack their 
whips so they sound like pistol-shots. It is quite dif- 
ferent from the beating of gongs and tom-toms and the 
setting off of firecrackers. Loaded donkeys and super- 
cilious camels pick their way through the crowds. A 
clear moon makes it almost as light as day. 

We have had long, lazy days on the Indian Ocean, 
beneath sunny skies. At Hongkong we went up the 
Peak for that magnificent view of the harbor. Singa- 
pore and Penang were as strange and foreign to me as 
if I had never set foot out of the United States. The 
long rows of black-skinned men, garbed in loin-cloths 
or in bright-hued skirts and turbans, squatting along 
the docks made me think of monkeys. We visited the 
botanical gardens, and went to Hindu temples, which 
were quite different from the Buddhist and Taoist 
temples I have seen in Japan and China. At Penang 
we saw men picking cocoanuts high up in the trees, 
and a lot of chattering monkeys, scurried away among 
the branches on our approach. My cabin-mate and I 
strayed into a native quarter of the city. It gives one 
such an interesting sense of adventure to know that 

[ 222 ] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



if you should lose your way you could not ask, and to 
bargain by means of signs and grunts for queer things 
whose use you don't know. And Columbo ! No won- 
der the " Innocents " harped on every prospect pleasing 
there. 

East and West have met in Cairo, and the East is 
all the more impressive for the sharp contrast with 
the West. New York may be more cosmopolitan, but 
the crowds do not look so much so, for all wear 
European dress. Never before have I seen so many 
varieties of fantastic costumes as here, black and white 
and every color of the rainbow. 

Several of us made up a party, and we engaged a 
Bedouin dragoman for the day. Incongruous as it 
may seem, we went in a trolley-car out to the Pyramids. 
We waited a few minutes in a public square. Watch- 
ing the crowds surging past was one of the most in- 
teresting experiences of the day to me. Both men and 
women wear long, flowing garments, which sweep the 
ground. Most of the men wear the red Turkish fez 
or turbans, and the Mohammedan women are in black 
mantles, with a square of black or white cloth veiling 
the lower part of the face. A long procession of peo- 
ple riding dromedaries passed on their way to a feast. 
Many street-venders went by, clashing their cymbals, 
or calling their wares. One man selling a yellow liquid, 
which he poured from a glass jar with brass trimmings, 
particularly attracted my attention. He wore a red 
fez, a white waistcoat with a green yoke and yellow 
undersleeves, a red-and-white striped short skirt, black 

[223] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



hose, and leather shoes. Do you wonder my eyes were 
busy? 

Our dragoman was telling about the Mohammedans. 
He said, " I pray five times every day." Some one 
asked if all Mohammedans are good. In reply he held 
up his hand, and said, " You see the fingers ; some are 
higher and some are lower." 

On our way out to the Pyramids we crossed the Nile. 
There were many of the peculiarly graceful sailboats 
of Egypt. The suburbs are modern, and many of the 
homes luxurious, with beautiful trees and a wealth of 
flowering shrubs and vines. In the country the homes 
are square, flat-roofed, mud or brick houses. We had 
a beautiful view across the country to the citadel crown- 
ing the top of the hill. It is not pleasant to think that 
such a splendid building was the result of vandalism of 
the worst sort, for the marble is the outer coating of 
the Pyramid of Cheops, and the monolithic columns 
which adorn the interior are said to be from the Temple 
of the Sun below the Sphinx. 

Old China never made me feel "like a cake not 
turned," but Betsey, when I stood looking at the Pyra- 
mids and the Sphinx, and tried to think of the ages 
upon ages they have stood there, and the thousands 
of generations they have seen pass away, man's little 
span of life, " threescore years and ten," seemed but a 
vapor. These monuments, which have stood here since 
hundreds of years before Abraham, help one to realize 
what eternity will be, for with God " a thousand years 
are as one day." 

[224] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



It was noon before we left there. The spell of the 
place and the hot glaring sunshine gave a sensation 
of unreality as I walked back through the burning 
sands. It seemed that I might waken to find that " this 
was none of I." 

As on the way out, there were many interesting 
sights to claim our attention : flat-bottomed, springless 
carts crowded with veiled women in loose black man- 
tles; men, women, and children riding donkeys or 
dromedaries; loaded camels; women carrying large 
bundles on their heads; and back in the city hundreds 
of people gathered in front of a mosque. It is some 
kind of religious holiday, and they each carried a gift 
to offer. 

This afternoon the dragoman took us through the 
bazaars, to the Mameluke Tombs, and the citadel. I 
should love to tell you all about it, and of how our black 
Jehu drove furiously up the hill to the citadel until 
the horses balked and we had to jump from the car- 
riage three times, and at last walk. But we had a 
glimpse of the interior, and then went out and watched 
the sunset, over the hundreds of domes and minarets of 
the city of mosques. An Indian juggler entertained 
us in the hotel parlor after dinner. I wish I could 
stay a week, but we have only a short time for the 
museum in the morning, then start for Palestine to- 
morrow afternoon. Seven of us who became ac- 
quainted on the boat will travel together. We are a 
very congenial party. With loads of love, 

Jane. 

[225] 



LVII 



Jerusalem, March 20. 

Beloved Betsey: What a week I have had! We 
came from Port Said in a Russian coasting steamer. 
It was the worst ever, but it was only one night, and 
I always sleep like a log the first night out, so I did 
not realize the discomforts. Sunday morning at sun- 
rise we cast anchor off the coast of the city by the sea, 
where Hiram, King of Tyre, sent his floats loaded 
with cedar and firwood for the building of the Temple. 
There is no harbor at Jaffa, so it was fortunate for 
us that the sea was smoother than on that day so 
long ago when Jonah went down there to take ship 
for Tarshish. Even on this calm morning it was quite 
exciting to jump down into the boat which was rising 
and falling several feet with the rise and fall of the 
waves. 

Doctor and Mrs. Fisk, of Shanghai, are of our 
party. Neither they nor I wished to travel unneces- 
sarily on Sunday, so we remained in Jaffa for the day. 
Late in the afternoon we went for a walk along 
the seaside, where Peter too must have walked and 
watched the sunset, for it was near here that he lodged 
in the house of Simon the tanner. 

Monday morning bright and early we started on 
that never-to-be-forgotten ride across the Plain of 

[226] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Sharon and up the Judean Mountains to Jerusalem. 
It was a cool, sunshiny spring morning. The way was 
made bright by myriads of spring flowers, and interest- 
ing by the swift changes of scene. As we drew out 
through the suburbs of Jaffa we might have thought 
ourselves in a modern European city. A few moments 
later we were passing a Bedouin tent. Well-watered 
gardens and fragrant orange groves brightened by 
the golden fruit gave place to rolling fields of green 
grain and vineyards ; and later, as we came up into the 
mountainous regions, to olive groves and then bleak 
hills. Every available bit of ground on these hills is 
terraced and under cultivation, even where it seems the 
only crop the soil could yield would be stones. All 
along the way were reminders of stories familiar to us 
from childhood. At noon we passed through the hills 
that are round about Jerusalem, and had our first 
glimpse of the city itself. 

Betsey, I am thankful I am soon to see you and 
have an opportunity to tell all that I cannot put into 
my letters. Every day adds so much to what I have 
been storing up for the past six years that I fear for the 
effect on you if I ever have a chance to say it all ! I 
cannot tell you now of the crowded events of the week ; 
of our visits to Bethlehem and Bethany, the Temple 
Area, the Garden Tomb, and Gordon's Calvary, and 
long walks about the city and over the Mount of 
Olives. Some people are disappointed in the Holy 
Land. I am not. I have been content to walk along 
the ways where Jesus once walked, to look out over 

[227] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



the scenes on which his eyes once rested, and to study 
the people and the customs which have changed so little 
since Christ was upon earth. Names have become 
places, Bible history has become actuality to me, and 
I have a new sense of the reality of Christ's life and 
death for us. 

One day I took a donkey and went alone around the 
city wall. I'll admit I did not ride much. My donkey 
behaved just as Balaam's did, and I did not care to have 
my foot crushed against the wall, nor did I wish to 
run over any of the scores of pilgrims I met in the way. 
I did not know how to say, " Hi ! There ! Get out of 
the way," in Russian or Armenian or any other lan- 
guage those pilgrims would understand, and it did 
not seem quite dignified to give a little squeal when 
my donkey almost trod on the toes of some one who 
happened to be looking the other way. So I got off 
and let the boy lead the donkey, while I made good 
use of my time studying the map as I walked along. 
My Way led out past the Jaffa Gate, Enrogel, Siloam, 
the Pool of Siloam, and the Virgin's Pool. At the 
latter place some girls washing clothes, seeing a lone 
woman coming down the stone steps which lead to the 
water, rudely splashed me until I was glad to leave 
them to wash their clothes in peace. I came back 
through the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and the Valley of 
Kedron, and finally, riding in state, arrived at the hotel. 

Naples, March 28. Betsey, I shall never forget the 
sensation I had to-night when we landed and drove 

[228] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



through the streets and along the Via Nationale. When 
I saw the prancing horses and the fine carriages, and 
the stylishly dressed people I could not believe that 
these people cannot understand English any better than 
the Chinese do. They look so much like ourselves they 
certainly should speak the same language. The city 
seems wonderful to me, with its beautiful park with 
statues gleaming through the trees. It is more like 
home than anything I have seen since I went to China. 
How strange it seems to say " Since I went " instead 
of " Since I came." Even now it seems almost a dream 
that I am more than half-way home, and that I shall 
not wake to hear the soldier boys blowing their bugles 
when I want to prolong my slumbers and dream of 
being in Naples. It really is dream-time though; so 
good night, dear. 

Jane. 



[229] 



LVIII 



Lucerne, Switzerland, April n. 

My own Betsey: One of the last admonitions of 
prim and proper Genevieve was, "Don't run around 
Europe with a Baedeker in your hand." It is well she 
has not seen us shamelessly consulting Baedeker on 
street corners and on cars, in cathedrals, palaces, villas, 
and galleries. If she knew she might refuse to live 
with me when I return to China; so, Betsey dear, 
please keep mum. 

It has been a perfect two weeks, even to the weather. 
I am still with Mr. and Mrs. Steel. It has added so 
much to my pleasure, and they do not seem to consider 
me a hanger-on. I go with them as far as Paris. From 
there I shall be alone, but that does not seem far, only 
from Paris to New York. I have a few days for 
Paris and London, then the Atlantic, and home. I 
expect to arrive in New York on the twenty-third. Oh, 
joyful thought! Van Dyke's sentiments are mine: 

It's fine to see the old world, and travel up and down 
Among the famous palaces and cities of renown ; 
To see the crumbly castles, and the statues of the kings, 
But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things. 



They have been wonderfully interesting, these anti- 
quated things. I have reveled in them. 

[230] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



A famous artist was on the boat with us from Singa- 
pore to Port Said. He knows Europe like a book, and 
he planned our itinerary so that we could make the 
most of our time. If we are in a museum or gallery 
in the forenoon, the afternoon is spent in the open; so 
in spite of strenuous days we have kept fresh and have 
enjoyed every day to the full. We have smashed every 
iron-clad-rule-for-tourists to smithereens. Instead of 
wasting half our time calmly absorbing the atmosphere 
of the place, we have raced about all day long. Yes, 
I'll admit we have raced even through the picture-gal- 
leries. But we do stop before some pictures, and 
usually they are the ones that are double-starred. I 
do not admire all masterpieces, but even if I am not an 
" art for art's sake " individual I recognize the touch of 
a master. 

We went out to Pompeii. Wouldn't it be interesting 
to know more about the people whose chariots wore 
the ruts in those stone-paved streets ? On the way we 
passed a castle with a moat and a drawbridge. Betsey, 
you will try to bear with me if I should be very ro- 
mantic for a few days after I reach home, will you not ? 
So many palaces and villas and castles and moats may 
slightly turn my head for the nonce. Doubtless I shall 
soon be my own prosaic self once more. 

You would find it hard to believe me if I should tell 
you all that we saw and did in Rome. I have multi- 
tudes of pegs to hang my Roman history on now. It is 
real old Rome that I like best, the Forum, Colosseum, 
Pantheon, the Capitoline and Palatine Hills, and the 

[231 ] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Via Appia. In Florence we stayed at a pension at the 
foot of piazza Michelangelo. Twice I climbed the 
winding road to the height for the glorious view of 
the city bathed in the golden glow of the sunset. We 
explored the cathedrals, palaces, and galleries, walked 
and drove along the Arno by moonlight, and quite 
properly absorbed the atmosphere of this wonderful old 
city of the Guelfs and Ghibellines. 

We traveled by night from Rome to Milan, where 
we stopped only a few hours to see the " statue-laden 
spires " of the cathedral, then came up to the Italian 
Lakes in their marvelously beautiful settings, and on 
through St. Gothard's Pass to Fliielen. In many ways 
these days in Switzerland have been the most wonderful 
of all my journeyings around the world. I loved 
Fliielen because it is real Switzerland, unspoiled by 
tourists. We walked away out into the country. 
Everybody we met greeted us with a nod and a pleasant 
word. Four young girls were strolling along with 
arms* full of blossoming boughs from the fruit trees. 
On every side the majestic mountains lifted their snowy 
summits into the heavens. 

The next day we walked for miles along the Axen- 
strasse, with the limpid lake below us on the one hand 
and the mountains towering in grandeur above us on 
the other, flowers below and snow above. 

This afternoon I have been down to see Thorwald- 
sen's lion in his rocky couch, and went up the Abend 
Weg to watch the sunset. From my window I have a 
lovely view of the city with its myriad lights, and of 

[232] 



LETTERS TO BETSEY 



Pilatus and Rigi lying in icy stillness under the silvery 
moonlight. Since God has made the world so beauti- 
ful, what will heaven be ? My eyes have feasted on the 
soul-satisfying wonders of God's handiwork in nature ; 
but " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of man, the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love him." 

Au revoir for only a few days more. 

Jane. 



WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM 

New York City. 14.4.23. 2 p. m. 
Meet me to-morrow 8 a. m. Erie depot. Psalm 
113 : 3- 



Jane. 



[233] 



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